On the truncation of the harmonic oscillator wavepacket

L. Rebollo-Neira*, S. Jain

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    We present an interesting result regarding the implication of truncating the wavepacket of the harmonic oscillator. We show that disregarding the non-significant tails of a function which is the superposition of eigenfunctions of the harmonic oscillator has a remarkable consequence: namely, there exist infinitely many different superpositions giving rise to the same function on the interval. Uniqueness, in the case of a wavepacket, is restored by a postulate of quantum mechanics.

    Original languageEnglish
    JournalJournal of Physics A: Mathematical and General
    Volume38
    Issue number17
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 29 Apr 2005

    Bibliographical note

    ©2005 IOP Publishing Ltd. After the Embargo Period, the full text of the Accepted Manuscript may be made available on the non-commercial repository for anyone with an internet connection to read and download. After the Embargo Period a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 licence applies to the Accepted Manuscript, in which case it may then only be posted under that CC BY-NC-ND licence provided that all the terms of the licence are adhered to, and any copyright notice and any cover sheet applied by IOP is not deleted or modified.

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