Paper 4, Section I, B

Quantum Mechanics | Part IB, 2018

A particle moving in one space dimension with wavefunction Ψ(x,t)\Psi(x, t) obeys the timedependent Schrödinger equation. Write down the probability density ρ\rho and current density jj in terms of the wavefunction and show that they obey the equation

∂j∂x+∂ρ∂t=0\frac{\partial j}{\partial x}+\frac{\partial \rho}{\partial t}=0

Evaluate j(x,t)j(x, t) in the case that

Ψ(x,t)=(Aeikx+Be−ikx)e−iEt/ℏ\Psi(x, t)=\left(A e^{i k x}+B e^{-i k x}\right) e^{-i E t / \hbar}

where E=ℏ2k2/2mE=\hbar^{2} k^{2} / 2 m, and AA and BB are constants, which may be complex.

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