Paper 4, Section I, 6C\mathbf{6 C}

Quantum Mechanics
Part IB, 2012

In terms of quantum states, what is meant by energy degeneracy?

A particle of mass mm is confined within the box 0<x<a,0<y<a0<x<a, 0<y<a and 0<z<c0<z<c. The potential vanishes inside the box and is infinite outside. Find the allowed energies by considering a stationary state wavefunction of the form

χ(x,y,z)=X(x)Y(y)Z(z)\chi(x, y, z)=X(x) Y(y) Z(z)

Write down the normalised ground state wavefunction. Assuming that c<a<2cc<a<\sqrt{2} c, give the energies of the first three excited states.