L23 - Postulates of QM

Classical physics is deterministic
Quantum physics/mechanics is probabilistic

Postulates of quantum mechanics
Postulate 1:
At any time t, the state of a physical system is represented by the
wavefunction ψ(r; t).
Postulate 2:
Any physical quantity (observable) is represented by a linear operator A
which acts on the wavefunction. The linear operator is a Hermitian
operator which has real eigenvalues.
Postulate 3:
Any measurement of a physical quantity yields one of the eigenvalues an of
the corresponding operator representing the observable.
Postulate 4:
When the observable corresponding to the operator A is measured on a
system state represented by ψ, the probability of obtaining an is given as
Pn = Cn , ψ = ∑ Cn un ,
2
Where un are the eigenstate of A
n
Postulate 5:
Immediately after the measurement an the system originally in
the state ψ jumps to the state un. This is the so-called Dirac jump
postulate (named after Paul Dirac) and the process of the
wavefunction collapsing to an eigenstate of the operator which
represents the measurement, is called wavefunction collapse.
Another measurement of A will result in an with certainty.
Postulate 6:
Between two measurements, the state ψ(r,t) evolves according to the
Schrodinger equation.
Probability of finding the particle between x and x + dx
P( x) d x = ψ ( x)ψ ( x) d x
*
∞ ∞
∫ = ∫ ( x)ψ ( x) d x = 1
ψ *
P ( x ) d x
−∞ −∞
2
P(1,2) = ∫ P( x) d x
ψ (x)
2
1
x
Example
Red curve
2 π x 
ψ ( x) = sin  
L  L 
Take, L=10
Blue curve
2 2 π x 
ψ ( x) = sin 
2

L  L 
k
2 P(k1 , k2)
k
∞
1
ψ ( x,0) = ∫ g (k ) e
ik x
dk
2π −∞
∞
1
∫ψ ( x ) e
−i k x
g (k ,0) = dx
2π −∞
Square-integrable : a real- or complex-valued measurable function for

which the integral of the square of the absolute value is finite
A plane wave whose modulus is constant throughout all space is not

square-integrable.
Rigorously, ψ (x,t)=A exp (i(k x-ω t)) cannot represent a physical state
of the particle. Similar to , a plane EM wave is not physically
realizable. So, the superposition of plane waves called wave packet can
be written as Fourier transform of g(k) which is square-integrable.
For a classical system made up of particles
One can completely specify the state of the system by giving the
position and momentum (or equivalently velocity) of every
particle in the system at any particular time.
a) If you consider one particle whose position and momentum is

known at this initial time, then if you know all the forces acting
on that particle you can write down equations which tell you
exactly what its position and momentum will be at any future
time.
b) Note that instead of specifying the forces you can specify the potential
energy function, which is equivalent: force is the gradient of potential.
In quantum mechanics the situation is a little more complicated
The systems that you study are still made of particles, and the basic
procedure is in some ways similar:
a) You measure the state of a particle at some initial time, you specify
the forces acting on that particle (or equivalently, the potential energy
function describing those forces), and quantum mechanics gives you a
set of equations for predicting the results of measurements taken at
any later time.
b) There are two key differences between these two theories.

First of all, the state of a particle in quantum mechanics is not
just given by its position and momentum but by something called
a "wavefunction."
Secondly, knowing the state of a particle (i.e., its wavefunction)
does not enable you to predict the results of measurements with
certainty, but rather gives you a set of probabilities for the
possible outcomes of any measurement.
A typical quantum mechanics problem would thus run as follows:
i) You start with a particle in an unknown state subject to a known set of

forces, such as an electron in an electromagnetic field.
ii) You perform a measurement on that particle that tells you its state, i.e., its
wave-function.
iii)You let it evolve for a certain amount of time and then take another
measurement.
iv)Quantum mechanics can tell you what result to expect from this second
measurement.
There are thus three questions we need to address in
formulating the basic theory of quantum mechanics.
1.When I measure something about a particle (position,

angular momentum, etc), what does that tell me about its
wavefunction?
2.Once I have a measurement sufficient to tell me the

wavefunction of a particle at some time t=0, how will that
wavefunction evolve in time?
3.Assuming I know the wavefunction at some particular time,

how can I predict the results of a subsequent measurement?
Position probabilities with a discrete wavefunction
x=1: ψ =1+i
x=2: ψ =2-2i
x=3: ψ =2+2i
Position probabilities with a discrete wavefunction
x=1: ψ =1+i
x=2: ψ =2-2i
x=3: ψ =2+2i
φ ( x) = A x( L − x); 0 ≥ x ≥ L
= 0 elsewhere
Find A.
∫( )
L
30
A 2
x L + x − 2 L x dx = 1 ⇒ A =
2 2 4 3
5
.
0
L
ψ ( x, t ) = φ ( x ) e − iE t / 
ψ ( x, t ) = φ ( x ) e − iE t / 
• Now, by applying some basic probability theory to those numbers,
we can answer another very important question: if I had a lot of
particles in exactly this state, and I measured all their positions, what
would the average result be?
• This is called the "expectation value" of position and is often

written as <x>.
• Therefore, "the magnitude of the wavefunction squared gives the

probability of finding the particle at a particular position." This is a
totally out-of-the-air rule; or, to put it another way, a fundamental
postulate of quantum mechanics.
Expectation value of an observable

∆ z ∆ pz =
2
Momentum probabilities
So we have got some idea about the wavefunction ψ. We know how

to analyze states to yield all the possible positions that the particle
might be in, and their respective probabilities.
Next question we need to ask: “how do we analyze the exact same

wavefunction to find the momentum probabilities?”
To answer this question, we're going to start with a special case

which is quite simple. If a particle is in a state described by ψ=e5ix/ħ
then its momentum is 5. No ambiguity, no probabilities, the
momentum is just 5. (Don't worry about the normalization of this
wavefunction for the moment; we'll return to that point later.)
• Now, as you might guess, there is nothing particularly special about the
number 5. If ψ=e7ix/ħ then the momentum is 7. In general, if ψ= eipx/ħ for
any constant p, then the momentum of the particle is exactly p.
• Functions of this form ψ= eipx/ħ are known as the basis states of

momentum, which means they represent particles that have exactly
specified momentum.
• They may seem like such a special case that it isn't very interesting: how
often is ψ going to happen to be in just exactly that form?
• But in fact, the basis states are the key to the whole process.
• The general strategy is to represent ψ as a sum of different basis states,

and once ψ is represented in that way, you can easily get all the
information you need about momentum.
• We can illustrate the key "momentum strategy" by moving to a slightly
more complicated example.
• This is not a basis state, so the momentum is not exactly specified. But this
wavefunction is a sum of two different basis states, e23ix/ħ and e42ix/ħ.
• We can therefore say with confidence that the momentum of the particle
must be either 23 or 42.
• To find the relative probabilities, we look at the coefficients—the numbers
multiplied by these basis states—and we square them. (2)2=4, |2+2i|2=8, so
the particle is twice as likely to have momentum 42 as it is to have
momentum 23.
In summary, there are two key rules you need to know about
momentum:
 If ψ=eipx/ħ for any constant p, then the particle's momentum is

exactly p. Functions of this form are known as the basis states
of momentum.
 When the wave-function is a sum of different momentum basis

states, the coefficient squared of each of those basis states gives
the probability of measuring the particle's momentum to have
that value.

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Classical physics is deterministic

Quantum physics/mechanics is probabilistic

Square-integrable : a real- or complex-valued measurable function for

A plane wave whose modulus is constant throughout all space is not

a) If you consider one particle whose position and momentum is

b) There are two key differences between these two theories.

i) You start with a particle in an unknown state subject to a known set of

1.When I measure something about a particle (position,

2.Once I have a measurement sufficient to tell me the

3.Assuming I know the wavefunction at some particular time,

• This is called the "expectation value" of position and is often

• Therefore, "the magnitude of the wavefunction squared gives the

So we have got some idea about the wavefunction ψ. We know how

Next question we need to ask: “how do we analyze the exact same

To answer this question, we're going to start with a special case

• Functions of this form ψ= eipx/ħ are known as the basis states of

• The general strategy is to represent ψ as a sum of different basis states,

 If ψ=eipx/ħ for any constant p, then the particle's momentum is

 When the wave-function is a sum of different momentum basis

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