Schrödinger Wavefunctions in a Continuously Varying Potential

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This Demonstration shows solutions of the one-dimensional Schrödinger equation in a potential-energy field , which can be varied by moving a series of locators. A quantum number
(from 1 to 20) can be selected. The Schrödinger equation is then solved numerically for the wavefunctions
, which are plotted in red, in arbitrary units. The black curves show the corresponding probability densities
. The potential energy
is scaled in units of
.
Contributed by: Srivishnupreeth Rendla (July 2016)
With additional contributions by: Robert Morris
(Wolfram Summer Camp 2016)
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA
Snapshots
Details
The snapshots show that a small change in the potential can result in a very large variation of the wavefunction.
References
[1] A. Messiah, Quantum Mechanics, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1958.
[2] R. Shankar, Principles of Quantum Mechanics, 2nd ed., New York: Plenum, 1994.