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1 What Is Wave Packet: KX P G

A wave packet is a superposition of plane waves with different wavelengths that travels together as a group. Each individual wave travels at the phase velocity, while the wave packet travels at the group velocity. Wave packets are useful for describing particles in quantum mechanics as they have both well-defined position and momentum, behaving classically, though neither is precisely defined due to the uncertainty principle. The free particle is an example where the wave function takes the form of a normalizable wave packet rather than non-physical plane waves with a single momentum.

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عزوز عزوز
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49 views

1 What Is Wave Packet: KX P G

A wave packet is a superposition of plane waves with different wavelengths that travels together as a group. Each individual wave travels at the phase velocity, while the wave packet travels at the group velocity. Wave packets are useful for describing particles in quantum mechanics as they have both well-defined position and momentum, behaving classically, though neither is precisely defined due to the uncertainty principle. The free particle is an example where the wave function takes the form of a normalizable wave packet rather than non-physical plane waves with a single momentum.

Uploaded by

عزوز عزوز
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1 What is wave packet

A wave packet can be seen as a superposition of harmonic components (plane waves ekx ) with a
various wavelengths. Each wave inside the envelope travels with specific phase velocity vp , the wave
packet travels with the so called group velocity vg as in fig(1).

Figure 1: A wave packet.

The importance of waves packets arises from the duality nature of particles and waves. We
describe such particles in terms of wave packets. A wave packet is a form of wave function that has
a well-defined position as well as momentum. Thus wave packets tend to behave classically and are
easy (and fun) to visualize. Naturally, neither the momentum nor the position is precisely defined,
as is governed by the uncertainty principle.

A classic application of the uncertainty principle is in understanding wave packets. A wave packet
with a very well-defined position will have a very uncertain momentum, and thus will quickly dis-
perse as the faster components move on ahead of the slower ones. Conversely, if you construct a
wave packet with a very definite momentum it will travel a long distance without dispersing, but it
starts out being very broad already in position space.

2 Examples of wave packets


One of the most famous examples of wave packets in quantum mechanics is the free particle. In the
rest of this section, we will solve the Schrödinger equation for the free particle and we will proof the
wave function of the free particle take the form of wave packet.

The free particle


The time-independent Schrödinger equation for the free particle is:
−h̄2 d2 ψ
= Eψ (1)
2m dx2
or √
d2 ψ 2mE
= −k 2 ψ, where k =
dx2 h̄
The solution of eq(1) is as follows;
ψ(x) = Aeikx (2)

1
Unlike the infinite square well, there are no boundary conditions to restrict the possible values of k
(and hence of E); the free particle can carry any (positive) energy. Tacking on the standard time
dependence,
h̄k
Ψ(x, t) = Aeik(x− 2m t) (3)
There is a big problem in the wave function for the free particle. eq(3) is not normalizable:
Z +∞ Z +∞
∗ 2
Ψ Ψdx = |A| dx = |A|2 (∞)
−∞ −∞

In the case of the free particle, then, the separable solutions do not represent physically realizable
states. A free particle cannot exist in a stationary state; or, to put it another way, there is no such
thing as a free particle with a definite energy.
However, we can construct general solution to the time-dependent Schrödinger equation from
the separable solution (only this time it’s an integral over the continuous variable k, instead of a
sum over the discrete index n):
Z +∞
1 h̄k
Ψ(x, t) = √ Φ(k) eik(x− 2m t) dx (4)
2π −∞

Now this wave function can be normalized (for appropriate Φ(k)). But it necessarily carries a range
of ks, and hence a range of energies (frequencies) and speeds. This wave function take the form of
wave packet.

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