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Time evolution in an oscillating magnetic field for spin-1/2 particles

Physics Asked by adwait naravane on March 25, 2021

This might be a rookie mistake.
For a magnetic field oriented in the z-direction of form, $B = B_0 cos(omega t) hat{k}$.
The Hamiltonian in this case will be $H = omega_0 cos(omega t) hat{S_z}$.
For an initial state of, $|{psi(0)} rangle = |+z rangle $.
By solving the Schrodinger’s equation, I obtain $$|psi(t) rangle = e^{-frac{i omega_0}{2} sin(omega t)} |+zrangle $$.
But when I tried to find the time evolution of the state by using the relation between
the time evolution operator and the Hamiltonian, of form $$hat{U} = e^{- frac{i hat{H}t}{hbar}}$$
I got the state to become into, $$|psi(t)rangle = e^{- frac{i omega_0 cos(omega t) t}{2}} |+zrangle $$
The second solution does not seem to agree with the Schrodinger’s equation, is this because the Hamiltonian is explicitly dependent on time?

One Answer

Recall that the Schrodinger equation

$$ i frac{partial}{partial t} | psi rangle = H |psi rangle $$

yields the time evolution

$$ |psi(t)rangle = e^{-i H t} | psi(0) rangle $$

only when the Hamiltonian is time independent.

There are two other situations:

(1) If the Hamiltonian commutes with itself at all times, then the solution for the time evolution operator is given by

$$ |psi(t)rangle = e^{-i int_0^t H(t') dt'} | psi(0) rangle $$

(2) If the Hamiltonian does not commute with itself at different times then the formal time evolution is a Dyson series

begin{align*} |psi(t)rangle = left(mathbb{1} + sum_{n=1}^inftyint_0^t dt_1 int_0^{t_1} dt_2cdots int_0^{t_{n-1}} dt_n H(t_1) H(t_2)cdots H(t_n)right)|psi(0)rangle end{align*}

For more on to handle these situation see pg. 72 of Sakurai.

Answered by InertialObserver on March 25, 2021

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