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Perturbation theory with infinite potential

Physics Asked by user85231 on May 21, 2021

I’m trying to solve an excercise that involves first order perturbation theory and an infinite potential. To ease the problem, I tried to consider an easier one dimensional model. Consider an infinite square well potential
$$V(x) = begin{cases} 0quad text{if } 0<x<a
+infty quad text{elsewhere}
end{cases} $$
which has ground state wavefunction $psi_0$ and energy $E_0$. Now, the potential is perturbed and becomes
$$V'(x) = begin{cases} 0quad text{if } 0<x<a+varepsilon
+infty quad text{elsewhere}
end{cases} $$
where $varepsilon ll a$. What is the first order correction to the energy $E_0$?
I know that for the infinite square well this problem can be solved analytically, but I’m trying to solve the same problem with a worse potential and it is required to use perturbation theory.
My problem is that I’m not able to write the Hamiltonian as a sum of the potential plus a perturbation, since we are given directly the perturbated potential. What I tried is the following: I multiplied the unperturbated potential with a function $A(x)$ that is 0 between $a$ and $a+varepsilon$, and 1 elsewhere. I wrote this function using the Heaviside $theta(x)$:
$$A(x) = theta(-x+a)+theta(x-a-varepsilon) $$
such that I obtain
$$A(x)V(x) = V(x)theta(-x+a) + V(x)theta(x-a-varepsilon) $$
which is now a sum of almost the initial potential and another term but the problem is that the product $0cdot +infty$ is not well defined, so I don’t think this is the correct approch.
Do you have a better idea to approch this problem?

2 Answers

It will help you to think in terms of V'(X) - V(X) .... Where is this function zero and where is it not? Where it is not, note that it takes a familiar form (up to a minus sign). It may look "bad," however your first order energy shift will involve the unperturbed wave function - for the infinite well you will find, then, that it is easy to work out the correction.....

Answered by lux on May 21, 2021

There is a related problem that sugests how to to proceed. I learned it from Alan MacKane and I think he told me that he found it in a paper by Sidney Coleman:

Let $psi_lambda(x)$ be a normalized bound-state solution to the Schr{"o}dinger equation on the entire real line $$ [-partial_x^2 +q(x)]psi_lambda=lambda psi_lambda, quad psi_lambdain {rm L}^2({mathbb R}), $$ with $ psi_lambda(x) sim Ae^{-beta|x|}$ at large $|x|$. Then the small shift in $lambda$ that arises from confining the system in a box of length $L$, so that $psi_{lambda+deltalambda}(L/2)=psi_{lambda+deltalambda}(-L/2)=0$, is $$ delta lambda sim 4A^2 beta e^{-beta L}. $$ This is another case where the potential perturbation is infinite even though $1/L$ is a small parameter.

To obtain this result, we proceed as follows: We need to change $lambda$ so that a solution that is zero at $x=-L/2$ evolves to zero at $x=+L/2$. To do this we require a Green function for the initial value problem $$ [-partial_x^2 +q(x)-lambda]psi=f(x),qquad psi(-L/2)=0. $$ To construct the Green function we make use of the second solution
$$ chi_lambda(x) propto psi_lambda(x) int^x_0 [psi_lambda(xi)]^{-2} dxi, $$ which we scale so that $$ chi_lambda(x)sim {rm sgn}(x) A e^{beta |x|}, quad |x| gg 0. $$ The initial-value Green function is then $$ G(x,xi) = frac{1}{2A^2beta}[ psi_lambda(x) chi_lambda(xi)-chi_lambda(x) psi_lambda(xi)] theta(x-xi), $$ where $2A^2beta$ is the Wronskian $W[psi_lambda, chi_lambda]$.

Now
$$ phi(x)= frac 1{2A} left(e^{beta L/2}psi_lambda(x)+e^{-beta L/2}chi_lambda(x)right) $$ is zero at $x=-L/2$ and unity at $x=+L/2$.
We use $G(x,xi)$ with $f(x) to deltalambda, phi(x)$ to solve, to first order in $deltalambda$, the equation with $lambda to lambda+delta lambda$ and $ psi_{lambda+deltalambda}(-L/2)=0$. We obtain
$$ psi_{lambda+deltalambda}(x) = phi(x) +delta lambda int_{-L/2}^x frac{1}{2A^2beta}[ psi_lambda(x) chi_lambda(xi)-chi_lambda(x) psi_lambda(xi)] phi(xi),dxi. $$

By construction this $psi_{lambda+deltalambda}(x) $ satisfies the boundary condition at $x=-L/2$, while at $x=+L/2$ we have $$ psi_{lambda+deltalambda}(L/2) = phi(L/2)+deltalambda int_{-L/2}^{L/2}frac{1}{2A^2beta} left[ textstyle{frac 12} e^{-beta L}chi_lambda^2(xi)- textstyle{frac 12} e^{beta L} psi^2_lambda(xi)right],dxi. $$ Now $phi(L/2)=1$, $$ e^{-beta L} int_{-L/2}^{L/2} chi_lambda ^2(xi),dxi $$ is $O(1)$ and so is negligible compared to the $e^{beta L}$ term, and $$ int_{-L/2}^{L/2} psi^2_lambda(xi),dxisim 1 $$ by the normalization assumption. Thus $$ psi_{lambda+deltalambda}(L/2)= 1 - frac{deltalambda}{4A^2beta} e^{beta L}+O(deltalambda^2). $$ Requiring this to be zero gives $$ delta lambda = 4A^2 beta e^{-beta L}, $$ as claimed.

So you can do essentially the same thing for your $epsilon$ boundary shift.

Answered by mike stone on May 21, 2021

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