Degenerate Energy States

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The probability function is used to determine the energy of a system, which is based on the quantum numbers
and
, and varies as
+
. The plot shows how the probability function
changes with different values of
and
. The total energy
of the system is shown in the bottom‐left corner. Different values of
and
can be chosen to give the same values of
. When different sets of quantum numbers lead to the same energy state, the system is said to be degenerate.
Contributed by: Douglas Kellis (Boise State University) (March 2011)
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA
Snapshots
Details
Snapshots 1 and 2: two-fold degenerate states occur when different values of and
produce the same energy level; in this case
Snapshots 3, 4 and 5: three-fold degenerate states occur when different values of and
produce the same energy level; in this case
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