Consider a quantum mechanical particle moving in an upside-down harmonic oscillator potential. Its wavefunction Ψ(x,t) evolves according to the time-dependent Schrödinger equation,
iℏ∂t∂Ψ=−2ℏ2∂x2∂2Ψ−21x2Ψ
(a) Verify that
Ψ(x,t)=A(t)e−B(t)x2
is a solution of equation (1), provided that
dtdA=−iℏAB
and
dtdB=−2ℏi−2iℏB2
(b) Verify that B=2ℏ1tan(ϕ−it) provides a solution to (3), where ϕ is an arbitrary real constant.
(c) The expectation value of an operator O at time t is
⟨O⟩(t)≡∫−∞∞dxΨ∗(x,t)OΨ(x,t),
where Ψ(x,t) is the normalised wave function. Show that for Ψ(x,t) given by (2),
⟨x2⟩=4Re(B)1,⟨p2⟩=4ℏ2∣B∣2⟨x2⟩
Hence show that as t→∞,
⟨x2⟩≈⟨p2⟩≈4sin2ϕℏe2t
[Hint: You may use
∫−∞∞dxe−Cx2∫−∞∞dxe−Cx2x2=2C1