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American Journal of Physics

A variational principle and the classical and quantum mechanics of the damped harmonic oscillator

Luis Herrera, Luis Alberto Nuñez, Alberto Patiño-Vanegas, Héctor Rago

Published Mar 1, 1986• 39 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A variational principle is presented, by means of which the equation of motion of the damped harmonic oscillator is found. Starting from this variational principle a systematic reformulation of the classical mechanics leads us to a Hamilton–Jacobi equation with an additional term, which is proportional to the action. The quantization of this Hamilton–Jacobi equation, following a method originally due to Schrödinger, gives the Langevin–Schrödinger equation.

DOI
10.1119/1.14644

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Phenomena of damped harmonic oscillator is important in the description of the elementary dissipative processes of linear responses in our physical world. Its classical description is clear and understood, however it is not so in the quantum physics, where it also has a basic role. Starting from the Rosen-Chambers restricted variation principle a Hamilton like variation approach to the damped harmonic oscillator will be given. The usual formalisms of classical mechanics, as Lagrangian, Hamiltonian, Poisson brackets, will be covered too. We shall introduce two Poisson brackets. The first one has only mathematical meaning and for the second, the so-called constitutive Poisson brackets, a physical interpretation will be presented. We shall show that only the fundamental constitutive Poisson brackets are not invariant throughout the motion of the damped oscillator, but these show a kind of universal time dependence in the universal time scale of the damped oscillator. The quantum mechanical Poisson brackets and commutation relations belonging to these fundamental time dependent classical brackets will be described. Our objective in this work is giving clearer view to the challenge of the dissipative quantum oscillator.

JOURNAL OF ADVANCES IN PHYSICS•Mar 12, 2014•1 citation
A variational principle is presented, by means of which the equation of motion of the damped harmonic oscillator is found. Starting from this variational principle a systematic reformulation of the classical mechanics leads us to a Hamilton–Jacobi equation with an additional term, which is proportional to the action. The quantization of this Hamilton–Jacobi equation, following a method originally due to Schrödinger, gives the Langevin–Schrödinger equation.
In this work, a suitable Hamiltonian that describes the damped harmonic oscillator is constructed. Besides, the Hamilton-Jacobi equation for this dissipative system is written and the action function is obtained. Then, the system is quantized using two methods: the WKB approximation and the canonical quantization. In addition, evolution of the probability density is plotted at different times, and it is observed that the width of these densities decreases with time. The average energy of the system is also calculated and found to decrease with time.
In his first paper on wave mechanics, Schrödinger presented a heuristic argument which led from the Hamilton–Jacobi equation through the quantum variational principle to his famous wave equation. In his second paper, Schrödinger withdrew this heuristic argument as “incomprehensible.” We show by using a recently generalized form of Maupertuis’ principle that Schrödinger’s original heuristic argument can be made more logical. Aside from pedagogical interest, this path is useful as a method of quantization of general mechanical systems.
Abstract By selecting a right generalized coordinate X, which contains the general solutions of the classical motion equation of a forced damped harmonic oscillator, we obtain a simple Hamiltonian which does not contain time for the oscillator such that Schrödinger equation and its solutions can be directly written out in X representation. The wave functin in x representation are also given with the help of the eigenfunctions of the operator X^ \hat X X^ in x representation. The evolution of ⟨x^⟩ \left\langle {\hat x} \right\rangle ⟨x^⟩ is the same as in the classical mechanics, and the uncertainty in position is independent of an external influence; one part of energy mean is quantized and attenuated, and the other is equal to the classical energy.
Phenomena of damped harmonic oscillator is important in the description of the elementary dissipative processes of linear responses in our physical world. Its classical description is clear and understood, however it is not so in the quantum physics, where it also has a basic role. Starting from the Rosen-Chambers restricted variation principle a Hamilton like variation approach to the damped harmonic oscillator will be given. The usual formalisms of classical mechanics, as Lagrangian, Hamiltonian, Poisson brackets, will be covered too. We shall introduce two Poisson brackets. The first one has only mathematical meaning and for the second, the so-called constitutive Poisson brackets, a physical interpretation will be presented. We shall show that only the fundamental constitutive Poisson brackets are not invariant throughout the motion of the damped oscillator, but these show a kind of universal time dependence in the universal time scale of the damped oscillator. The quantum mechanical Poisson brackets and commutation relations belonging to these fundamental time dependent classical brackets will be described. Our objective in this work is giving clearer view to the challenge of the dissipative quantum oscillator.