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College Physics

Simple approach to the time evolution of wave packets in a harmonic oscillator potential

Qiong-Gui Lin

Published Jan 1, 2003• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

A simple approach is presented to calculate the explicit time dependent wave functions of some wave packets in a harmonic oscillator potential. In this approach no knowledge on special functions is needed.

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By successive applications of time-dependent rotation, translation and dilatation, it is shown that a charged time-dependent harmonic oscillator in a uniform time-dependent electromagnetic field is equivalent to a free particle. This equivalence is employed to present a simple derivation of the Feynman kernel as well as to obtain a concrete picture of the time evolution of a generic wave packet. A compact formula for an evolving anisotropic Gaussian packet is also derived. A special case of this formula gives a squeezed coherent state for a harmonic oscillator whose frequency is an arbitrary function of time. Finally we discuss an Aharonov-Bohm-Berry-like phase associated with a wave packet whose center traces a closed circuit.
By successive applications of time-dependent rotation, translation and dilatation, it is shown that a charged time-dependent harmonic oscillator in a uniform time-dependent electromagnetic field is equivalent to a free particle. This equivalence is employed to present a simple derivation of the Feynman kernel as well as to obtain a concrete picture of the time evolution of a generic wave packet. A compact formula for an evolving anisotropic Gaussian packet is also derived. A special case of this formula gives a squeezed coherent state for a harmonic oscillator whose frequency is an arbitrary function of time. Finally we discuss an Aharonov-Bohm-Berry-like phase associated with a wave packet whose center traces a closed circuit.