Homework Solution

Dr. Christopher S. Baird, UMass Lowell

Galilean Relativity Show that the Schroedinger Equation obeys Galilean relativity. Make a Galilean coordinate transformation to the Schroedinger equation and try to simplify it to the original form. Because only the magnitude of the wave function has physical meaning, you can always attach an arbitrary complex phase to the wave function and it still represents the same physical state. You will need to do this to reduce the equation to its original form. SOLUTION: The time-dependent Schroedinger Equation in frame K' is:
2 ' 2 ' 'V ' '=i 2m t'

Let us see if this obeys Galilean relativity. We want to transform it to a lab frame K that is moving at a velocity v with respect to K' using a Galilean transformation and see if it still holds the same form. The transformation rules for Galilean relativity are: x '=xv t , t '=t We must find the relations between the partial derivatives. Expand the spatial derivative: x t = x ' x ' x x ' t Apply the partials to the transformation rules to find Plug these into the spatial expansion to find: = x' x We can apply this rule twice to find: 2 2 = 2 2 x' x Now the other components behave the same way. We add them all together: 2 2 2 2 2 2 = x ' 2 y '2 z '2 x 2 y 2 z 2 '2= 2 x =1 and x' t =0 . x'

Next we need the partial with respect to time. We expand it: x t = t ' t ' x t ' t Apply the partials to the transformation rules to find Plug these into the spatial expansion to find: =v t ' x t Now we can extend this to three dimensions: =v t ' t Apply these now to the Schroedinger equation and assume V' is Galilean invariant: 2 2 'V '=i v ' 2m t x =v and t ' t =1 t '

2 2 ' 'V '=i v 'i 2m t Now this equations at first glance does not appear to be the same as when we started out. But we remember that only the magnitude squared of the quantum wavefunction relates to something physical so we can always add an arbitrary complex phase to the wavefunction and end up with the same physics. Let us expand the wavefunction in terms of some arbitrary phase that depends on position and time: '= e i kxt We can say nothing about k and at this point. They are not the total wave number of frequency of the wave although they have the same dimensions. Plug this in: 2 2 ei kx t ei kx t V ei kxt =i v ei kx t i 2m t

We must be careful and apply the product rule one step at a time: i k ei kxt e i kxt V e i kxt = 2m t
2

vk ei kxt i ei kxt v ei kx t i ei kx t

2 i kx t 2 2 i kx t 2 2 i kxt 2 i kxt i e k k e e i e k V e i kxt = 2m 2m 2m 2m i kxt i kxt i kxt vk e i e v e i ei kx t t 2 2 2 2 V i =i kv k vk 2m t m 2m

Now k and are at this point free parameters. If we can find a value for each of them that makes the right hand of the equation disappear, we will be left with the original form of the Schroedinger equation and will therefore show that the Schroedinger equation is invariant under Galilean transformations and thus obeys Galilean relativity. The wavefunction and its gradient are independent so each term on the right must disappear separately. i

kv =0 and m

2 2 k vk =0 2m

Solving the first one for k

k =m v

Note that this similar to the standard statement for a free quantum particle, relating its particle-like momentum p = mv, to its wave-like momentum p = k. But we have to careful here. The velocity v is the relative velocity of the two frames, not the absolute velocity of the particle in either frame. Plugging this into the second equation and solving for 1 = m v 2 2 This is again similar to the standard statement for a free quantum particle, relating particle-like energy E = mv2 to its wave-like energy E = . Again, the velocity v is the relative velocity of the two frames, not the absolute velocity of the particle in either frame. Bringing the hbar over, they become: k=m v / , 1 2 = mv / 2

Choosing these as the values for the free parameters and putting them into the transformed Schroedinger equation leads to all the terms on the right dropping out: 2 2 V i =0 2m t

We have now returned to the original form, proving the Schroedinger's equation obey's Galilean relativity. To get here we had to make a transformation on the wave function:

 '= e or

i 1 2 m vx m v t 2

'= e

i p vxE v t

where p=m v and

1 2 E= m v 2

and the subscript v is to remind us that they are defind in terms of the frame velocity v, not the particle's velocity. This transformation was allowed because in the end we only measure the magnitude squared of the wavefunction so that an arbitrary complex phase factor does not change the physics. Let us approach the problem in a different way to see this transformation appear more naturally. Assume the original wavefunction ' in the moving frame K' is a free plane wave:
i

'= Ae

p'x ' E 't '

Let us make a Galilean transformation on each variable. We already know how to transform spatial and time coordinates:
x '=xv t , t '=t

Taking the derivative of the spatial transform gives us the addition of velocities equation. The momentum is just the mass times velocity, and mass is universal in Galilean relativity, so we also have an addition of momenta equation: p '=ppv where pv is the pseudo-momemtum of the frame, the same as above. The energy is dependent on the momentum, so we can find it by squaring this equation :

p'2 pp v = 2m 2m

E '=E E v vp Applying all of these transformation rules to the plane wave: '= Aexp

'= Aexp
i

i ppv xv t E E v vpt i pxp vxE t E v t e

'= A e

i pxE t pvx E v t

We recognize the first exponential as the definition of a plane wave in unprimed the lab frame K. We can rewrite it as: '= e
i pvxE v t

where p=m v and

1 E= m v 2 2

This matches exactly the transformation we had to make on the wavefunction to keep Schroedinger's equation obeying Galilean relativity. We can conclude that the wavefunction must be transformed using Galilean transformations as well.