Contents

Preface vii

1. Introduction 1

2. Quantum Mechanics (Revisited) 9

2.1 Linear Vector Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1.1 Three-Dimensional Vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1.2 n-Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.2 Hilbert Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2.1 Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2.2 Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.2.3 Relation to Linear Vector Space . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.2.4 Abstract State Vector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.3 Linear Hermitian Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.3.1 Eigenfunctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.3.2 Eigenstates of Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.4 Abstract Hilbert Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.4.1 Inner Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.4.2 Completeness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.4.3 Linear Hermitian Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.4.3.1 Eigenstates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.4.3.2 Adjoint Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.4.4 Schrödinger Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.4.4.1 Stationary States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.5 Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.5.1 Coordinate Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

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2.5.2 Abstract Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

2.5.3 Reduction of the Wave Packet . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.5.4 Stern-Gerlach Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.6 Quantum Mechanics Postulates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.7 Many-Particle Hilbert Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.7.1 Simple Harmonic Oscillator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.7.2 Bosons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.7.3 Fermions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

3. Angular Momentum 35
3.1 Translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.2 Rotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.3 Angular Momentum Operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.4 Eigenvalue Spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.5 Coupling of Angular Momenta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.6 Recoupling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.7 Irreducible Tensor Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.8 The Wigner-Eckart Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.9 Finite Rotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.9.1 Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.9.2 Tensor Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.9.3 Wigner-Eckart Theorem (Completed) . . . . . . . . 64
3.10 Tensor Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.11 Vector Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

4. Scattering Theory 69
4.1 Interaction Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
4.2 Adiabatic Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
4.3 Û -Operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
4.4 Û -Operator for Finite Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
4.5 The S-Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.6 Time-Independent Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.7 Scattering State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4.8 Transition Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
4.9 Unitarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
4.10 Example: Potential Scattering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4.10.1 Green’s Function (Propagator) . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4.10.2 Scattering Wave Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

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4.10.3 T-matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
4.10.4 Cross Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
4.10.5 Unitarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

5. Lagrangian Field Theory 95

5.1 Particle Mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
5.1.1 Hamilton’s Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
5.1.2 Lagrange’s Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
5.1.3 Hamiltonian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
5.2 Continuum Mechanics (String–a Review) . . . . . . . . . . 101
5.2.1 Lagrangian Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
5.2.2 Hamilton’s Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
5.2.3 Lagrange’s Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5.2.4 Two-Vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5.2.5 Momentum Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
5.2.6 Hamiltonian Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
5.3 Quantization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
5.3.1 Particle Mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
5.3.2 Continuum Mechanics (String) . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
5.4 Relativistic Field Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
5.4.1 Scalar Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.4.2 Stress Tensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
5.4.3 Dirac Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
5.4.4 Noether’s Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
5.4.4.1 Normal-Ordered Current . . . . . . . . . . 122
5.4.5 Electromagnetic Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
5.4.6 Interacting Fields (Dirac-Scalar) . . . . . . . . . . . 123

6. Symmetries 125
6.1 Lorentz Invariance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
6.2 Rotational Invariance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
6.3 Internal Symmetries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
6.3.1 Isospin–SU(2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
6.3.1.1 Isovector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
6.3.1.2 Isospinor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
6.3.1.3 Transformation Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
6.3.2 Lie Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
6.3.3 Sakata Model–SU(3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

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6.3.3.1 Dirac Triplet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

6.3.3.2 Scalar Octet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
6.3.3.3 Interacting Fields (Dirac-Scalar) . . . . . . 142
6.4 Phase Invariance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
6.4.1 Global Phase Invariance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
6.4.2 Local Phase Invariance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
6.5 Yang-Mills Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
6.6 Chiral Symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
6.6.1 σ-Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
6.6.2 Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking . . . . . . . . . . 158
6.7 Lorentz Transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

7. Feynman Rules 163

7.1 Wick’s Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
7.2 Example (Dirac-Scalar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
7.2.1 Scattering Amplitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
7.2.2 Self-Energies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
7.2.3 Vacuum Amplitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
7.3 Feynman Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
7.4 Feynman Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
7.5 Cancellation of Disconnected Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . 182
7.6 Mass Renormalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

8. Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) 187

8.1 Classical Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
8.2 Hamiltonian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
8.3 Quantization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
8.4 Photon Propagator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
8.5 Second-Order Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
8.5.1 Scattering Amplitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
8.5.2 Self-Energies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
8.6 QED With Two Leptons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
8.7 Cross Sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
8.7.1 e− + µ− → e− + µ− . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
8.7.1.1 Scattering Amplitude . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
8.7.1.2 Cross Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
8.7.1.3 Traces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
8.7.1.4 Cross Section (Continued) . . . . . . . . . . 206

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8.7.1.5 Limiting Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

8.7.1.6 Mo/ ller Scattering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
8.7.2 e+ + e− → µ+ + µ− . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
8.7.2.1 Scattering Amplitude . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
8.7.2.2 Cross Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
8.7.2.3 Limiting Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
8.7.2.4 Colliding Beams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
8.8 QED in External Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
8.8.1 Nuclear Coulomb Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
8.8.2 Bremsstrahlung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
8.8.3 Pair Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
8.9 Scattering Operator Ŝ1ext in Order e3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
8.10 Feynman Rules for QED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
8.10.1 General Scattering Operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
8.10.2 Feynman Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
8.10.3 Feynman Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
8.10.3.1 Coordinate Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
8.10.3.2 Momentum Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

9. Higher-Order Processes 225

9.1 Example–Scattering in External Field . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
9.1.1 Feynman Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
9.1.2 First-Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
9.1.3 Vertex Insertion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
9.1.4 Vacuum Polarization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
9.1.5 Self-Energy Insertions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
9.2 Ward’s Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
9.3 Electron Self-Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
9.3.1 General Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
9.3.2 Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
9.3.3 Mass Renormalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
9.4 Vertex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
9.4.1 General Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
9.4.2 Ward’s Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
9.4.3 Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
9.4.4 The Constant L . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
9.4.5 The Infrared Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
9.4.6 Schwinger Moment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
9.5 External Lines and Wavefunction Renormalization . . . . . 243

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9.5.1 Cancellation of Divergences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

9.6 Vacuum Polarization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
9.6.1 Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
9.6.2 General Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
9.6.3 Limiting Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
9.6.4 Insertion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
9.6.5 Charge Renormalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
9.6.6 Charge Strength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
9.7 Renormalization Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
9.7.1 Proper Self-Energies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
9.7.2 Proper Vertex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
9.7.3 Ward’s Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
9.7.4 Ward’s Vertex Construct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
9.7.5 Finite Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
9.7.6 Proof of Renormalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
9.7.7 The Renormalization Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

10. Path Integrals 265

10.1 Non-Relativistic Quantum Mechanics with One Degree of
Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
10.1.1 General Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
10.1.2 Infinitesimals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
10.1.3 Transition Amplitude and Path Integral . . . . . . . 270
10.1.4 Classical Limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
10.1.5 Superposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
10.1.6 Matrix Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
10.1.7 Crucial Theorem of Abers and Lee . . . . . . . . . . 275
10.1.8 Functional Derivative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
10.1.9 Generating Functional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
10.2 Many Degrees of Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
10.2.1 Gaussian Integrals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
10.3 Field Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
10.3.1 Fields as Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
10.3.2 Measure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
10.3.3 Generating Functional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
10.3.4 Convergence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
10.3.4.1 Euclidicity Postulate . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
10.3.4.2 Adiabatic Damping . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
10.4 Scalar Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

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10.4.1 Generating Functional for Free Scalar Field . . . . . 285

10.4.1.1 Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
10.4.2 Interactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
10.5 Fermions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
10.5.1 Grassmann Algebra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
10.5.2 Functional Derivative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
10.5.3 Functional Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
10.5.4 Integrals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
10.5.5 Basic Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
10.5.6 Generating Functional for Free Dirac Field . . . . . 294
10.5.6.1 Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
10.5.7 Interactions (Dirac-Scalar) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
10.6 Electromagnetic Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

11. Canonical Transformations for Quantum Systems 299

11.1 Interacting Bose System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
11.1.1 Pseudopotential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
11.1.2 Special Role of the Ground State . . . . . . . . . . . 301
11.1.3 Effective Hamiltonian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
11.1.4 Bogoliubov Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
11.1.5 Discussion of Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
11.1.5.1 Excitation Spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
11.1.5.2 Depletion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
11.1.5.3 Ground-State Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
11.1.6 Superfluid 4 He . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
11.2 Superconductors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
11.2.1 Cooper Pairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
11.2.2 Bogoliubov-Valatin Transformation . . . . . . . . . 310
11.2.2.1 Pairing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
11.2.2.2 Thermodynamic Potential . . . . . . . . . . 311
11.2.2.3 Wick’s Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
11.2.2.4 Diagonalization of K̂0 . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
11.2.2.5 Gap Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
11.2.3 Discussion of Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
11.2.3.1 Particle Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
11.2.3.2 Ground-State Thermodynamic Potential . . 317
11.2.3.3 Ground-State Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
11.2.3.4 Excitation Spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
11.2.3.5 Momentum Operator . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

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11.2.3.6 Quasiparticle Spectrum . . . . . . . . . . . 319

11.2.3.7 Calculation of the Energy Gap ∆ . . . . . . 320
11.2.3.8 Quasiparticle Interactions . . . . . . . . . . 322

12. Problems 323

Appendix A Multipole Analysis of the Radiation Field 369

A.1 Vector Spherical Harmonics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
A.2 Plane-Wave Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
A.3 Transition Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
A.4 Arbitrary Photon Direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

Appendix B Functions of a Complex Variable 383

B.1 Convergence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
B.2 Analytic Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
B.3 Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
B.4 Cauchy’s Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
B.5 Cauchy’s Integral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
B.6 Taylor’s Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
B.7 Laurent Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
B.8 Theory of Residues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
B.9 Zeros of an Analytic Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
B.10 Analytic Continuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
B.10.1 Standard Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
B.10.2 Uniqueness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

Appendix C Electromagnetic Field 393

C.1 Lagrangian Field Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
C.2 Stress Tensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
C.3 Free Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
C.4 Quantization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
C.5 Commutation Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
C.6 Interaction With External Current . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
C.6.1 Hamiltonian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
C.6.2 Quantization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404

Appendix D Irreducible Representations of SU(n) 407

D.1 Young Tableaux and Young Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

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 Contents xvii

D.2 Adjoint Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

D.3 Dimension of the Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
D.4 Outer Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
D.5 SU(n-1) Content of SU(n) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
D.6 Some Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
D.6.1 Angular Momentum–SU(2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
D.6.2 Sakata Model–SU(3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
D.6.3 Giant Resonances–SU(4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

Appendix E Lorentz Transformations in Quantum Field Theory 419

E.1 Scalar Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
E.1.1 States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
E.1.2 Lorentz Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422
E.1.3 Generators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
E.1.4 Commutation Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
E.2 Dirac Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
E.2.1 Lorentz Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

Appendix F Green’s Functions and Other Singular Functions 429

F.1 Commutator at Unequal Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
F.2 Green’s Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434
F.2.1 Boundary Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
F.3 Time-Ordered Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
F.3.1 Scalar Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
F.3.2 Electromagnetic Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
F.3.3 Dirac Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
F.3.4 Vector Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442

Appendix G Dimensional Regularization 443

G.1 Dirichlet Integral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
G.2 Basic Relation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
G.3 Complex n-plane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446
G.4 Algebra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
G.5 Lorentz Metric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448
G.6 γ-Matrix Algebra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
G.7 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
G.7.1 Convergent Momentum Integrals . . . . . . . . . . . 450
G.7.2 Vacuum Tadpoles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450

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xviii Advanced Modern Physics

G.7.3 Vacuum Polarization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450

Appendix H Path Integrals and the Electromagnetic Field 453

H.1 Faddeev-Popov Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
H.2 Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
H.3 Generating Functional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
H.4 Ghosts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458
H.5 Photon Propagator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458

Appendix I Metric Conversion 461

Bibliography 463

Index 467

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 Preface

World Scientific Publishing Company recently published my book entitled

Introduction to Modern Physics: Theoretical Foundations. The book is
aimed at the very best students, with a goal of exposing them to the foun-
dations and frontiers of today’s physics. Typically, students have to wade
through several courses to see many of these topics, and I wanted them to
have some idea of where they were going, and how things fit together, as
they went along. Hopefully, they will then see more inter-relationships, and
get more original insights, as they progress. The book assumes the reader
has had a good one-year, calculus-based freshman physics course, along
with a good one-year course in calculus. While it is assumed that mathe-
matical skills will continue to develop, several appendices are included to
bring the reader up to speed on any additional mathematics required at the
outset. With very few exceptions, the reader should then find the material
to be self-contained. Many problems are included, some for each chapter.
Although the book is designed so that one can, in principle, read and follow
the text without doing any of the problems, the reader is strongly urged
to attempt as many of them as possible in order to obtain some confidence
in his or her understanding of the basics of modern physics and to hone
working skills.
After completing that book, it occurred to me that a second volume
could be prepared that would significantly extend the coverage, while fur-
thering the stated goals. The ground rules would be that anything covered
in the text and appendices of the first volume would be fair game, while
anything covered in the problems would first be re-summarized. Those few
results quoted without proof in Vol. I would now be derived. The topics
chosen would be those of wide applicability in all areas of physics. Again,
an important goal would be to keep the entire coverage self-contained. The

vii
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viii Preface

present book is the outcome of those musings. All of the material in this
book is taken from course lectures given over the years by the author at
either Stanford University or the College of William and Mary.
Quantum mechanics is first reformulated in abstract Hilbert space,
which allows one to focus on the general structure of the theory. The book
then covers the following topics: angular momentum, scattering theory, la-
grangian field theory, symmetries, Feynman rules, quantum electrodynam-
ics, path integrals, and canonical transformations for quantum systems.
Several appendices are included with important details. When finished,
the reader should have an elementary working knowledge in the principal
areas of theoretical physics of the twentieth century. With this overview in
hand, development in depth and reach in these areas can then be obtained
from more advanced physics courses.
I was again delighted when World Scientific Publishing Company, which
had done an exceptional job with four of my previous books, showed enthu-
siasm for publishing this new one. I would like to thank Dr. K. K. Phua,
Executive Chairman of World Scientific Publishing Company, and my ed-
itor Ms. Lakshmi Narayanan, for their help and support on this project.
I am greatly indebted to my colleagues Paolo Amore and Alfredo Aranda
for their reading of the manuscript.

Williamsburg, Virginia John Dirk Walecka

December 1, 2009 Governor’s Distinguished CEBAF
Professor of Physics, emeritus
College of William and Mary

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 Chapter 1

Introduction

The goal of this book is to provide an extension of the previous book Intro-
duction to Modern Physics: Theoretical Foundations, refered to as Vol. I.
That volume develops the underlying concepts in twentieth-century physics:
quantum mechanics, special relativity, and general relativity. Included in it
are applications in atomic, nuclear, particle, and condensed matter physics.
It is assumed in Vol. I that readers have had a good calculus-based intro-
ductory physics course together with a good course in calculus. Several
appendices then provide sufficient background so that, with very few ex-
ceptions, the presentation is self-contained. Many of the topics covered in
that work are more advanced than in the usual introductory modern physics
books. It was the author’s intention to provide the best students with an
overview of the subject, so that they are aware of the overall picture and
can see how things fit together as they progress.
As projected in Vol. I, it is now assumed that mathematical skills have
continued to develop. In this volume, readers are expected to be familiar
with multi-variable calculus, in particular, with multiple integrals. It is
also assumed that readers have some familiarity with the essentials of linear
algebra. An appendix is included here on functions of a complex variable,
since complex integration plays a key role in the analysis. The ground
rules now are that anything covered in the text and appendices in Vol. I is
assumed to be mastered, while anything covered in the problems in Vol. I
will be re-summarized. Within this framework, readers should again find
Vol. II to be self-contained.
There are over 175 problems in this book, some after each chapter and
appendix. The problems are not meant to baffle the reader, but rather
to enhance the coverage and to provide exercises on working skills. The
problems for the most part are not difficult, and in most cases the steps

1
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2 Advanced Modern Physics

are clearly laid out. Those problems that may involve somewhat more
algebra are so noted. The reader is urged to attempt as many problems as
possible in order to obtain some confidence in his or her understanding of
the framework of modern theoretical physics.
In chapter 2 we revisit quantum mechanics and reformulate the the-
ory in terms of linear hermitian operators acting in an abstract Hilbert
space. Once we know how to compute inner products, and have the com-
pleteness relation, we understand the essentials of operating in this space.
The basic elements of measurement theory are also covered. We are then
able to present quantum mechanics in terms of a set of postulates within
this framework. The quantum fields of Vol. I are operators acting in the
abstract many-particle Hilbert space.
Chapter 3 is devoted to the quantum theory of angular momentum, and
this subject is covered in some depth. There are a variety of motivations
here: this theory governs the behavior of any isolated, finite quantum me-
chanical system and lies at the heart of most of the applications in Vol. I;1
it provides a detailed illustration of the consequences of a continuous sym-
metry in quantum mechanics, in this case the very deep symmetry of the
isotropy of space; furthermore, it provides an extensive introduction to the
theory of Lie groups, here the special unitary group in two dimensions
SU(2), which finds wide applicability in internal symmetries. An appendix
explores the use of angular momentum theory in the multipole analysis of
the radiation field, which is applicable to transitions in any finite quantum
mechanical system.
Chapter 4 is devoted to scattering theory. The Schrödinger equation
is solved in terms of a time-development operator in the abstract Hilbert
space, and the scattering operator is identified. The interaction is turned
on and off “adiabatically”, which allows a simple construction of initial and
final states, and the S-matrix elements then follow immediately. Although
inappropriate for developing a covariant scattering analysis, the time inte-
grations in the scattering operator can be explicitly performed and contact
made with time-independent scattering theory. It is shown how adiabatic
damping puts the correct boundary conditions into the propagators. A
general expression is derived for the quantum mechanical transition rate.
Non-relativistic scattering from a static potential provides a nice example
of the time-independent analysis. If the time is left in the scattering op-
erator, one has a basis for the subsequent analysis in terms of Feynman

1 For example, here we validate the “vector model” used there.

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 Introduction 3

diagrams and Feynman rules. The tools developed in this chapter allow
one to analyze any scattering or reaction process in quantum mechanics.
Lagrangian field theory provides the dynamical framework for a consis-
tent, covariant, quantum mechanical description of many interacting parti-
cles, and this is the topic in chapter 4. We first review classical lagrangian
particle mechanics, and then classical lagrangian continuum mechanics, us-
ing our paradigm of the transverse planar oscillations of a string. The string
mechanics can be expressed in terms of “two-vectors” (x, ict) where c is the
sound velocity in the string. We then discuss the quantization of these
classical mechanical systems obtained by imposing canonical quantization
relations on the operators in the abstract Hilbert space.
The appending of two additional spatial dimensions to obtain four-
vectors (x, ict), where c is now the speed of light, leads immediately to a
covariant, continuum lagrangian mechanics for a scalar field in Minkowski
space, which is then quantized with the same procedure used for the string.
We develop a covariant, continuum lagrangian mechanics for the Dirac field,
and discuss how anticommutation relations must be imposed when quantiz-
ing in this case. A general expression is derived for the energy-momentum
tensor, and Noether’s theorem is proven, which states that for every contin-
uous symmetry of the lagrangian density there is an associated conserved
current. A full appendix is dedicated to the lagrangian field theory of the
electromagnetic field.
Symmetries play a central role in developing covariant lagrangian densi-
ties for various interacting systems, and chapter 6 is devoted to symmetries.
The discussion starts with spatial rotations and the internal symmetry of
isospin, and it builds on the analysis of SU(2) in chapter 3. Here isospin
is developed in terms of global SU(2) transformations of the nucleon field
ψ = (ψp , ψn ). The internal symmetry is generalized to SU(3) within the
framework of the Sakata model with a baryon field ψ = (ψp , ψn , ψΛ ).2
It is also shown in chapter 6 how the imposition of invariance under local
phase transformations of the charged Dirac field, where the transformation
parameter depends on the space-time point x, necessitates the introduction
of a photon (gauge) field Aµ (x) and leads to quantum electrodynamics
(QED), the most accurate theory known. Yang-Mills theory, which extends
this idea to invariance under local internal symmetry transformations of
the Dirac field, and necessitates the introduction of corresponding gauge
bosons, is developed in detail. These gauge bosons must be massless, and to
2 Wigner’s supermultiplet theory based on internal SU(4) transformations of the nu-

cleon field ψ = (ψp↑ , ψp↓ , ψn↑ , ψn↓ ) is also touched on.

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4 Advanced Modern Physics

understand the very successful physical application of Yang-Mills theories,

it is necessary to understand how mass is generated in relativistic quantum
field theories.3
We do this within the framework of the σ-model, a very simple model
which has had a profound effect on the development of modern physics.
A massless Dirac field has an additional chiral invariance under a global
transformation that also mixes the components of the Dirac field. The cor-
responding conserved axial-vector current, which augments the conserved
vector current arising from global isospin invariance, corresponds closely to
what is observed experimentally in the weak interactions. The σ-model ex-
tends the massless Dirac lagrangian through a chiral-invariant interaction
with a pion and scalar field (π, σ). A choice of shape of the chiral-invariant
meson potential V(π2 +σ 2 ) then leads to a vacuum expectation value for the
scalar field that gives rise to a mass for the Dirac particle while maintaining
chiral invariance of the lagrangian. This spontaneous symmetry breaking il-
lustrates how observed states do not necessarily reflect the symmetry of the
underlying lagrangian. Generating mass through the expectation value of
a scalar field, in one way or another, now underlies most modern theories
of particle interactions.4
The most fundamental symmetry in nature is Lorentz invariance. One
must obtain the same physics in any Lorentz frame. The Lorentz transfor-
mation properties of the scalar and Dirac fields are detailed in an appendix.
Some very useful tools are provided in another appendix devoted to the ir-
reducible representations of SU(n).
Chapter 7 is concerned with the derivation of the Feynman rules, and to
focus on the method, they are developed for the simplest theory of a Dirac
particle interacting with a neutral, massive, scalar field. Wick’s theorem
is proven. This allows one to convert a time-ordered product of fields in
the interaction picture, where the time dependence is that of free fields,
into a normal-ordered product where the destruction operators sit to the
right of the creation operators for all times. It is the time-ordered prod-
uct that occurs naturally in the scattering operator, and it is the normal-
ordered product from which it is straightforward to compute any required
matrix elements. Wick’s theorem introduces the vacuum expectation value

3 Both quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and the Standard Model of electroweak in-

teractions are Yang-Mills theories built on internal symmetry groups, the former on an
N
internal color SU (3)C symmetry and the latter on an internal weak SU (2)W U (1)W .
4 In the Standard Model, it provides the basis for the “Higgs mechanism” (see, for

example, [Walecka (2004)] ).

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 Introduction 5

of the time-ordered product of pairs of interaction-picture fields— these are

the Feynman propagators. An appendix provides a thorough discussion of
these Green’s functions, as well as other singular functions, for the scalar,
Dirac, and electromagnetic fields.5 The lowest-order scattering amplitudes,
self-energies, and vacuum amplitude are all calculated for the Dirac-scalar
theory, and then interpreted in terms of Feynman diagrams and Feynman
rules. The cancellation of the disconnected diagrams is demonstrated in
this chapter, as is the requisite procedure for mass renormalization.
In chapter 8 these techniques are applied to a theory with immedi-
ate experimental implications. That theory is quantum electrodynamics
(QED), where the fine-structure constant α = e2 /4π~cε0 = 1/137.04 pro-
vides a meaningful dimensionless expansion parameter. The point of de-
parture here is the derived QED hamiltonian in the Coulomb gauge, where
∇ · A(x) = 0 and there is a one-to-one correspondence between the degrees
of freedom in the vector potential and transverse photons. The interaction
of the electron current and vector potential is combined with the instan-
taneous Coulomb interaction to produce a photon propagator, and then
conservation of the interaction-picture current is invoked to reduce this to
an effective photon propagator with a Fourier transform in Minkowski space
of D̃µν (q) = δµν /q 2 . One thereby recovers covariance and gauge invariance
in the electromagnetic interaction.
The steps leading from an S-matrix element to a cross section are cov-
ered in detail in two examples, µ− + e− → µ− + e− and e+ + e− → µ+ + µ− .
Expressions are obtained in the center-of-momentum (C-M) frame that are
exact to O(α2 ). The scattering operator is extended to include an inter-
action with a specified external field, and the lowest-order amplitudes for
bremsstrahlung and pair production are obtained. The Feynman diagrams
and Feynman rules in these examples serve to provide us with the Feynman
diagrams and Feynman rules for QED.
Chapter 9 presents an introduction to the calculation of various vir-
tual processes in relativistic quantum field theory, and again, to keep close
contact with experiment, we focus on QED. Calculations of the O(α) cor-
rections to the scattering amplitude for an electron in an external field
provide an introduction to the relevant lowest-order “loop” contributions,
where there is an integral over one virtual four-momentum. The insertions
here are characterized through the electron self-energy, vertex modification,
and vacuum polarization (photon self-energy) diagrams.

5 The neutral, massive vector meson field is covered in the problems.

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6 Advanced Modern Physics

Dimensional regularization, detailed in an appendix, serves as a tech-

nique that gives mathematical meaning to originally ill-defined integrals.
Here one works in the complex n-plane, where n is the dimension, and any
potential singularity is then isolated at the point n → 4. The contribution
of each of the above diagrams is cast into a general form that isolates such
singular pieces and leaves additional well-defined convergent expressions.
Some care must be taken with the contribution of the self-energy inser-
tions on the external legs (“wavefunction renormalization”), and we do so.
It is then shown how Ward’s identity, which relates the electron self-energy
and vertex insertion, leads to a cancellation in the scattering amplitude of
the singular parts of these insertions. Vacuum polarization then leads to
a shielding of the charge in QED and to charge renormalization. The two
remaining singular terms in the theory are removed by mass and charge
renormalization, and if the scattering amplitude is consistently expressed
in terms of the renormalized mass and charge (m, e) one is left with finite,
calculable, O(α) corrections to the scattering amplitude. The Schwinger
term in the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron is calculated here.
Higher-order corrections are summarized in terms of Dyson’s and Ward’s
equations, and it is demonstrated through Ward’s identities how the mul-
tiplicative renormalizability of QED holds to all orders.
With the techniques developed in chapter 9, one has the tools with which
to examine loop contributions in any relativistic quantum field theory.
Chapter 10 is on path integrals. There are many reasons for becoming
familiar with the techniques here, which underly much of what now goes on
in theoretical physics, for example: this approach provides an alternative
to canonical quantization, which, with derivative couplings, can become
prohibitively difficult; here one deals entirely with classical quantities, in
particular the classical lagrangian and classical action; and the classical
limit ~ → 0 leads immediately to Hamilton’s principle of stationary action.
We start from the analysis of a non-relativistic particle moving in a po-
tential in one dimension and show how the quantum mechanical transition
amplitude can be exactly expressed as an integral over all possible paths be-
tween the initial and final space-time points.6 We then make the transition
to a system with many degrees of freedom, and then to field theory.
The addition of an arbitrary source term, together with the crucial the-
orem of Abers and Lee, allows one to construct the generating functional
as a ratio of two path integrals, one a transition amplitude containing the
6 It is shown in a problem how the partition function of statistical mechanics in the

microcanonical ensemble can also be expressed as a path integral.

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 Introduction 7

source and the second a vacuum-vacuum amplitude without it. The con-
nected Green’s functions can then be determined from the generating func-
tional by functional differentiation with respect to the source, as detailed
here. The generating functional is calculated for the free scalar field using
gaussian integration, and it is shown how the Feynman propagator and
Wick’s theorem are reproduced in this case. The treatment of the Dirac
field necessitates the introduction of Grassmann variables, which are anti-
commuting c-numbers. The generating functional is computed for the free
Dirac field, and the Feynman propagator and Wick’s theorem again recov-
ered. It is shown how to include interactions and express the full generating
functional in terms of those already computed.
An appendix describes how one uses the Faddeev-Popov method in a
gauge theory, at least for QED, to factor the measure in the path integral
into one part that is an integral over all gauge functions and a second part
that is gauge invariant. With a gauge-invariant action, the path integral
over the gauge functions then factors and cancels in the generating func-
tional ratio. It is shown how the accompanying Faddeev-Popov determinant
can be expressed in terms of ghost fields, which also factor and disappear
from the generating functional in the case of QED. The generating func-
tional for the free electromagnetic field is calculated here.
Although abbreviated, the discussion in chapter 10 should allow one to
use path integrals with some facility, and to read with some understanding
material that starts from path integrals.
The final chapter 11 deals with canonical transformations for quantum
systems. Chapter 11 of Vol. I provides an introduction to the properties
of superfluid Bose systems and superconducting Fermi systems. In both
cases, in order to obtain a theoretical description of the properties of the
quantum fluids, it is necessary to include interactions. A technique that
has proven invaluable for the treatment of such systems is that of canonical
transformations. Here one makes use of the fact that the properties of
the creation and destruction operators follow entirely from the canonical
(anti)commutation relations in the abstract Hilbert space. By introducing
new “quasiparticle” operators that are linear combinations of the original
operators, and that preserve these (anti)commutation relations, one is able
to obtain exact descriptions of some interacting systems, both in model
problems and in a starting hamiltonian.
The problem of a weakly interacting Bose gas with a repulsive interac-
tion between the particles is solved with the Bogoliubov transformation. A
phonon spectrum is obtained for the many-body system, which, as shown

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8 Advanced Modern Physics

in Vol. I, allows one to understand superfluidity. Motivated by the Cooper

pairs obtained in Vol. I, a Fermi system with an attractive interaction be-
tween those particles at the Fermi surface is analyzed with the Bogoliubov-
Valatin transformation. The very successful BCS theory of superconduc-
tivity is obtained in the case that the residual quasiparticle interactions can
be neglected.
A problem takes the reader through the Bloch-Nordsieck transforma-
tion, which examines the quantized electromagnetic field interacting with a
specified, time-independent current source. A key insight into the infrared
problem in QED is thereby obtained. A second problem guides the reader
through the analysis of a quantized, massive, neutral scalar field interacting
with a classical, specified, time-independent source. The result is an exact
derivation of the Yukawa interaction of nuclear physics.
This book is designed to further the goals of Vol. I and to build on
the foundation laid there. Volume II covers in more depth those topics
that form the essential framework of modern theoretical physics.7 Readers
should now be in a position to go on to more advanced texts, such as
[Bjorken and Drell (1964); Bjorken and Drell (1965); Schiff (1968); Itzykson
and Zuber(1980); Cheng and Li (1984); Donoghue, Golowich, and Holstein
(1993); Merzbacher (1998); Fetter and Walecka (2003a); Walecka (2004);
Banks (2008)], with a deeper sense of appreciation and understanding.
Modern theoretical physics provides a basic understanding of the phys-
ical world and serves as a platform for future developments. When finished
with this book, readers should have an elementary working knowledge in
the principal areas of theoretical physics of the twentieth-century.

7 The
author considered also including in Vol. II a chapter on solutions to the Einstein
field equations in general relativity; however, given the existence of [Walecka (2007)], it
was deemed sufficient to simply refer readers to that book.

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 Chapter 2

Quantum Mechanics (Revisited)

In this chapter we formalize some of the analysis of quantum mechanics in

Vol. I, which will allow us to focus on the general structure of the theory.
We start the discussion with a review of linear vector spaces.

2.1 Linear Vector Spaces

Consider the ordinary three-dimensional linear vector space in which we

live.

2.1.1 Three-Dimensional Vectors

Introduce an orthonormal set of basis vectors ei with i = 1, 2, 3 satisfying

ei · ej = δij ; (i, j) = 1, 2, 3 (2.1)

An arbitrary vector v is a physical quantity that has a direction and length

in this space. It can be expanded in the basis ei according to

3
X
v= vi ei ; vi = ei · v (2.2)
i=1

v can now be characterized by its components (v1 , v2 , v3 ) in this basis.1

Vectors have the following properties:

(1) Addition of vectors, and multiplication of a vector by a constant, are

1 This characterization will be denoted by v : (v1 , v2 , v3 ).

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10 Advanced Modern Physics

expressed in terms of the components by

a + b : (a1 + b1 , a2 + b2 , a3 + b3 )
γa : (γa1 , γa2 , γa3 ) ; linear space (2.3)

These properties characterize a linear space;

(2) The dot product, or inner product, of two vectors is defined by

a · b ≡ a1 b 1 + a2 b 2 + a3 b 3 ; dot product (2.4)

The length of the vector is then determined by

√ √
|v| = v2 = v · v = (v12 + v22 + v32 )1/2 ; length (2.5)

One says that there is an inner-product norm in the space.

(3) Suppose one goes to a new orthonormal basis αi where the vector v
has the components v : (v̄1 , v̄2 , v̄3 ). Then the components are evidently
related by

3
X 3
X
v= vi ei = v̄i αi
i=1 i=1
X3 3
X
⇒ vi = v̄j (ei · αj ) = v̄j [αj ]i (2.6)
j=1 j=1

2.1.2 n-Dimensions
These arguments are readily extended to n-dimensions by simply increasing
the number of components

v : (v1 , v2 , v3 , · · · , vn ) ; n-dimensions (2.7)

The extension to complex vectors is accomplished through the use of

the linear multiplication property with a complex γ. The positive-definite
norm is then correspondingly defined through |v|2 ≡ v⋆ · v,

γv : (γv1 , γv2 , γv3 , · · · , γvn ) ; complex vectors

|v|2 ≡ v⋆ · v = |v1 |2 + |v2 |2 + · · · + |vn |2 (2.8)

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 Quantum Mechanics (Revisited) 11

2.2 Hilbert Space

The notion of a Hilbert space involves the generalization of these concepts

to a space with an infinite number of dimensions. Let us start with an
example.

2.2.1 Example
Recall the set of plane waves in one spatial dimension in an interval of
length L satisfying periodic boundary conditions

1 2πn
φn (x) = √ eikn x ; kn = ; n = 0, ±1, ±2, · · · ;
L L
basis vectors (2.9)

These will be referred to as the basis vectors. They are orthonormal and
satisfy
Z L
dx φ⋆m (x)φn (x) = δmn ; orthonormal
0
≡ hφm |φn i ; inner product (2.10)

This relation allows us to define the inner product of two basis vectors,
denoted in the second line by hφm |φn i,2 and the positive-definite inner-
product norm of the basis vectors is then given by
Z L
2
|φn | = hφn |φn i = dx |φn (x)|2 ; (“length”)2 (2.11)
0

An arbitrary function ψ(x) can be expanded in this basis according to

∞
X
ψ(x) = cn φn (x) ; expansion in complete set (2.12)
n=−∞

This is, after all, just a complex Fourier series. The orthonormality of the
basis vectors allows one to solve for the coefficients cn
Z L
cn = hφn |ψi = dx φ⋆n (x)ψ(x) (2.13)
0

2 The notation, and most of the analysis in this chapter, is due to Dirac [Dirac (1947)].

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12 Advanced Modern Physics

Any piecewise continuous function can actually be expanded in this set,

and the basis functions are complete in the sense that3
N 2
Z L X
Lim N →∞ dx ψ(x) − cn φn (x) =0 ; completeness (2.14)
0 n=−N

Just as with an ordinary vector, the function ψ(x) can now be characterized
by the expansion coefficients cn

ψ(x) : (c−∞ , · · · , c−1 , c0 , c1 , · · · , c∞ )

or; ψ : {cn } (2.15)

Addition of functions and multiplication by constants are defined in terms

of the coefficients by

ψ (1) + ψ (2) : {c(1) (2)

n + cn }
γψ : {γcn } ; linear space (2.16)

This function space is again a linear space. The norm of ψ is given by

Z L X∞
2 2
|ψ| = hψ|ψi = dx |ψ(x)| = |cn |2 ; (norm)2 (2.17)
0 n=−∞

which, in the case of Fourier series, is just Parseval’s theorem.

2.2.2 Definition
The function ψ(x) in Eq. (2.17) is said to be square-integrable. The set of
all square-integrable functions (L2 ) forms a Hilbert space. Mathematicians
define a Hilbert space as follows:

(1) It is a linear space;

(2) There is an inner-product norm;
(3) The space is complete in the sense that every Cauchy sequence con-
verges to an element in the space.

The above analysis demonstrates, through the expansion coefficients cn , the

isomorphism between the space of all square-integrable functions (L2 ) and
the ordinary infinite-dimensional complex linear vector space (l2 ) discussed
at the beginning of this section.
3 This is all the completeness we will need for the physics in this volume.

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 Quantum Mechanics (Revisited) 13

2.2.3 Relation to Linear Vector Space

A more direct analogy to the infinite-dimensional complex linear vector
space (l2 ) is obtained through the following identification

vi → ψx ; coordinate space (2.18)

We now use the coordinate x as a subscript, and we note that it is here a

continuous index. The square of the norm then becomes
X
vi⋆ vi → ψx⋆ ψx ≡ dx ψ ⋆ (x)ψ(x)
P R
x (2.19)
i

The sum over the continuous index has here been appropriately defined
through a familiar integral. With this notation, the starting expansion in
Eq. (2.12) takes the form

∞
X
ψx = cn [φn ]x (2.20)
n=−∞

2.2.4 Abstract State Vector

Equation (2.20) can be interpreted in the following manner:

This is just one component of the abstract vector relation

X
|ψi = cn |φn i ; abstract vector relation (2.21)
n

The quantity |ψi is now interpreted as a vector in an infinite-

dimensional, abstract Hilbert space. It can be given a concrete rep-
resentation through the component form in Eqs. (2.20) and (2.12),
using the particular set of basis vectors in Eqs. (2.9).

As before, one solves for the expansion coefficients cn by simply using the
orthonormality of the basis vectors in Eq. (2.10)

X Z
cn = hφn |ψi = [φn ]⋆x ψx = dx φ⋆n (x)ψ(x) (2.22)
x

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14 Advanced Modern Physics

2.3 Linear Hermitian Operators

Consider an operator L in Hilbert space. Given ψ(x), then Lψ(x) is some

new state in the space. L is a linear operator if it satisfies the condition

L(αφ1 + βφ2 ) = α(Lφ1 ) + β(Lφ2 ) ; linear operator (2.23)

for any (φ1 , φ2 ) in the space. L is hermitian if it satisfies the relation4

Z Z Z ⋆
⋆ ⋆ ⋆
dx φ1 (x)Lφ2 (x) = dx [Lφ1 (x)] φ2 (x) = dx φ2 (x)Lφ1 (x) ;

hermitian (2.24)

A shorthand for these relations is as follows

hφ1 |L|φ2 i = hLφ1 |φ2 i = hφ2 |L|φ1 i⋆ ; shorthand (2.25)

We now make the important observation that if one knows the matrix
elements of L
Z
Lmn ≡ dx φ⋆m (x)Lφn (x) ≡ hm|L|ni ; matrix elements (2.26)

in any complete basis, then one knows the operator L. Let us prove this
assertion. Let ψ(x) be an arbitrary state in the space. If one knows the
corresponding Lψ(x), then L is determined. Expand ψ(x) in the complete
basis
X
ψ(x) = cn φn (x) ; complete basis (2.27)
n

As above, the coefficients cn follow from the orthonormality of the eigen-

functions φn
Z
cn = dx φ⋆n (x)ψ(x) ; known (2.28)

These coefficients are thus determined for any given ψ. Now compute5
X
Lψ(x) = cn [Lφn (x)] (2.29)
n
4 SeeProbI. 4.5—the notation “ProbI” refers to the problems in Vol. I.
5 It
is assumed here that there is enough convergence that one can operate on this
series term by term.

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 Quantum Mechanics (Revisited) 15

The expansion in a complete basis can again be invoked to write the state
Lφn (x) as
X
Lφn (x) = βmn φm (x) ; complete basis (2.30)
m

and the orthonormality of the eigenfunctions allows one to identify

Z
βmn = dx φ⋆m (x)Lφn (x) = Lmn (2.31)

Hence
X
Lφn (x) = φm (x)Lmn
m
XX
⇒ Lψ(x) = φm (x)Lmn cn ; known (2.32)
n m

This is now a known quantity, and thus we have established the equivalence6

L ←→ Lmn ; equivalent (2.33)

2.3.1 Eigenfunctions
The eigenfunctions of a linear operator are defined by the relation

Lφλ (x) = λφλ (x) ; eigenfunctions

λ is eigenvalue (2.34)

Here the operator simply reproduces the function and multiplies it by a

constant, the eigenvalue. If L is an hermitian operator, then the following
results hold:

• The eigenvalues λ are real (ProbI. 4.6);

• The eigenfunctions corresponding to different eigenvalues are orthogo-
nal.7

We give two examples from Vol. I:

(1) Momentum. The momentum operator in one dimension in coordinate
space is
~ ∂
p= ; momentum (2.35)
i ∂x
6 This equivalence is the basis of matrix mechanics (compare Prob. 2.8).
7 The proof here is essentially that of ProbI. H.4; dedicated readers can supply it.

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16 Advanced Modern Physics

With periodic boundary conditions, the eigenfunctions are just those

of Eq. (2.9), and
2πn
pφk (x) = ~k φk (x) ; k= ; n = 0, ±1, · · · (2.36)
L
p is hermitian with these boundary conditions (ProbI. 4.5), and as we
have seen, these eigenfunctions are both orthonormal and complete.
(2) Hamiltonian. In one dimension in coordinate space the hamiltonian is
given by
−~2 ∂ 2
H= + V (x) ; hamiltonian (2.37)
2m ∂x2
We assume that V (x) is real. The eigenstates are

HuEn (x) = En uEn (x) ; eigenstates (2.38)

In general, there will be both bound-state and continuum solutions to

this equation. With the choice of periodic boundary conditions in the
continuum, the hamiltonian is hermitian (ProbI. 4.5), and the energy
eigenvalues En are real (ProbI. 4.6). The eigenstates of this hermitian
operator also form a complete set, so that one can similarly expand an
arbitrary ψ(x) as
X
ψ(x) = an uEn (x) ; complete set (2.39)
n

For the present purposes, one can simply take two of the postulates of
quantum mechanics to be:

(1) Observables are represented with linear hermitian operators;

(2) The eigenfunctions of any linear hermitian operator form a complete
set.8

2.3.2 Eigenstates of Position

The position operator x in one dimension is an hermitian operator. Con-
sider the eigenstates of x with eigenvalues ξ so that

xψξ (x) = ξ ψξ (x) ; position operator (2.40)

8 A proof of completeness for any operator of the Sturm-Liouville type is contained in

[Fetter and Walecka (2003)] . The use of ordinary riemannian integration in the definition
of the inner product in Eq. (2.19), and the notion of completeness expressed in Eq. (2.14),
represent the extent of the mathematical rigor in the present discussion.

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 Quantum Mechanics (Revisited) 17

The solution to this equation, in coordinate space, is just a Dirac delta

function

ψξ (x) = δ(x − ξ) ; eigenstates of position (2.41)

It is readily verified that

xψξ (x) = xδ(x − ξ) = ξδ(x − ξ) = ξ ψξ (x) (2.42)

On the interval [0, L], with periodic boundary conditions, the eigenvalues
ξ run continuously over this interval. As to the orthonormality of these
eigenfunctions, one can just compute
Z Z
dx ψξ′ (x)ψξ (x) = dx δ(x − ξ ′ )δ(x − ξ) = δ(ξ − ξ ′ )
⋆
(2.43)

Hence
Z
dx ψξ⋆′ (x)ψξ (x) = δ(ξ − ξ ′ ) ; orthonormality (2.44)

We make some comments on this result:

• One cannot avoid a continuum normalization here, since the position

eigenvalue ξ is truly continuous;
• In contrast, in one dimension with periodic boundary conditions on
this interval, the eigenfunctions of momentum in Eq. (2.36) have a
denumerably infinite set of discrete eigenvalues. This proved to be an
essential calculational tool in Vol. I;
• To make the analogy between coordinate space and momentum space
closer, one can take L to infinity.9 Define
 1/2
L 1
ψk (x) = φk (x) = √ eikx (2.45)
2π 2π
Then
1
Z Z
′
dx ψk⋆′ (x)ψk (x) = dx ei(k−k )x
2π
→ δ(k − k ′ ) ; L→∞ (2.46)

In this limit both the momentum and position eigenfunctions have a

continuum norm.
9 As shown in Vol. I, Fourier series are converted to Fourier integrals in this limit; one
first uses the p.b.c. to convert the interval to [−L/2, L/2].

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18 Advanced Modern Physics

2.4 Abstract Hilbert Space

Recall Eqs. (2.12) and (2.20) from above, which represent an expansion in
a complete set,
X
ψ(x) = cn φn (x)
n
X
or ; ψx = cn [φn ]x (2.47)
n

This can be viewed as the component form of the abstract vector relation
X
|ψi = cn |φn i ; abstract vector relation (2.48)
n

Just as an ordinary three-dimensional vector v has meaning independent

of the basis vectors in which it is being decomposed, one can think of this
as a vector pointing in some direction in the abstract, infinite-dimensional
Hilbert space. Equations (2.47) then provide a component form of this
abstract vector relation.

2.4.1 Inner Product

The inner product in this space is provided by Eq. (2.19)
X Z
hψa |ψb i = [ψa ]x [ψb ]x ≡ dx ψa⋆ (x)ψb (x)
⋆
; inner product (2.49)
x

Thus, from Eqs. (2.47)

X Z
cn = hφn |ψi = [φn ]⋆x ψx ≡ dx φ⋆n (x)ψ(x) (2.50)
x

We note the following important inner products:

Z
hξ |ξi = dx ψξ⋆′ (x)ψξ (x) = δ(ξ ′ − ξ)
′

Z
hk |ki = dx φ⋆k′ (x)φk (x) = δkk′
′
; with p.b.c.
1
Z
hξ|ki = dx ψξ⋆ (x)φk (x) = √ eikξ (2.51)
L
The last relation follows directly from the wave functions in Eqs. (2.36) and
(2.41).10
10 See also Eq. (2.9); note that the subscript n on kn = 2πn/L is suppressed.

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 Quantum Mechanics (Revisited) 19

2.4.2 Completeness
As established in Vol. I, the statement of completeness with the set of
coordinate space eigenfunctions φp (x), where p denotes the eigenvalues of
a linear hermitian operator, is
X
φp (x)φ⋆p (y) = δ(x − y) ; completeness (2.52)
p

Insert this relation in the definition of the inner product in Eq. (2.49)
Z Z
hψa |ψb i = dx ψa⋆ (x)ψb (x) ≡ dxdy ψa⋆ (x)δ(x − y)ψb (y)
XZ Z
= dx ψa⋆ (x)φp (x) dy φ⋆p (y)ψb (y)
p
X
= hψa |φp ihφp |ψb i (2.53)
p

Here Eq. (2.52) has been used in the second line, and the definition of
the inner product used in the third. This relation can be summarized by
writing the abstract vector relation
X
|φp ihφp | = 1op ; completeness (2.54)
p

This unit operator 1op can be inserted into any inner product, leaving that
inner product unchanged. This relation follows from the completeness of
the wave functions φp (x) providing the coordinate space components of the
abstract state vectors |φp i.

2.4.3 Linear Hermitian Operators

In Vol. I, quantum mechanics was introduced in coordinate space, where
the momentum p is given by p = (~/i)∂/∂x. It was observed in ProbI. 4.8
that one could equally well work in momentum space, where the position x
is given by x = i~∂/∂p. It was also observed there that the commutation
relation [p, x] = ~/i is independent of the particular representation. Our
goal in this section is to similarly abstract the Schrödinger equation and free
it from any particular component representation.

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2.4.3.1 Eigenstates
A linear hermitian operator Lop takes one abstract vector |ψi into another
Lop |ψi. The eigenstates of Lop , as before, are defined by

Lop |φλ i = λ|φλ i ; eigenstates (2.55)

For example:

pop |ki = ~k|ki ; momentum

xop |ξi = ξ|ξi ; position
(Lz )op |mi = m|mi ; z-component of angular momentum
Hop |ψi = E|ψi ; hamiltonian (2.56)

2.4.3.2 Adjoint Operators

In coordinate space, the adjoint operator L† is defined by
Z Z Z ⋆
⋆ † ⋆ ⋆
dξ ψa (ξ)L ψb (ξ) ≡ dξ [Lψa (ξ)] ψb (ξ) = dξ ψb (ξ)Lψa (ξ) (2.57)

The adjoint operator in the abstract Hilbert space is defined in exactly the
same manner

hψa |L†op |ψb i ≡ hLop ψa |ψb i = hψb |Lop |ψa i⋆ ; adjoint (2.58)

Note that it follows from this definition that if γ is some complex number,
then

[γLop ]† = γ ⋆ L†op (2.59)

An operator is hermitian if it is equal to its adjoint

L†op = Lop ; hermitian

⋆
⇒ hψa |Lop |ψb i = hLop ψa |ψb i = hψb |Lop |ψa i (2.60)

With an hermitian operator, one can just let it act on the state on the left
when calculating matrix elements.

2.4.4 Schrödinger Equation

To get the time-independent Schrödinger equation in the coordinate
representation, one projects the abstract operator relation Hop |ψi =
E|ψi onto the basis of eigenstates of position |ξi.

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 Quantum Mechanics (Revisited) 21

We show this through the following set of steps:

(1) First project |ψi onto an eigenstate of position |ξi

X Z Z
⋆ ⋆
hξ|ψi = [ψξ ]x [ψ]x = dx ψξ (x)ψ(x) = dx δ(ξ − x)ψ(x)
x
hξ|ψi = ψ(ξ) ; wave function (2.61)

This is simply the familiar coordinate space wave function ψ(ξ);

(2) Compute the matrix element of the potential Vop = V (xop ) between
eigenstates of position

hξ|Vop |ξ ′ i = hξ|V (xop )|ξ ′ i = V (ξ ′ )hξ|ξ ′ i = V (ξ)δ(ξ − ξ ′ ) (2.62)

(3) Similarly, compute the matrix elements of the kinetic energy Top . This
is readily accomplished by invoking the completeness relation for the
eigenstates of momentum [see Eq. (2.54)]
X
|kihk| = 1op ; completeness (2.63)
k

With the insertion of this relation (twice), one finds

1 1 XX
hξ|Top |ξ ′ i = hξ|p2op |ξ ′ i = hξ|kihk|p2op |k ′ ihk ′ |ξ ′ i
2m 2m ′k k
2
~ XX ~2 X k 2 ik(ξ−ξ′ )
= hξ|kik 2 δkk′ hk ′ |ξ ′ i = e
2m 2m L
′ k k k
2 2
~ ∂ X 1 ik(ξ−ξ′ ) ~2 ∂ 2
=− 2
e =− 2
δ(ξ − ξ ′ ) (2.64)
2m ∂ξ L 2m ∂ξ
k

The final relation follows from the completeness of the momentum wave
functions.
(4) Make use of the statement of completeness of the abstract eigenstates
of position, which is
Z
dξ |ξihξ| = 1op ; completeness (2.65)

Note that the sum here is actually an integral because the position
eigenvalues are continuous.11
11 See Prob. 2.2.

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(5) The operator form of the time-independent Schrödinger equation is

Hop |ψi = (Top + Vop )|ψi = E|ψi ; S-equation (2.66)

A projection of this equation on the eigenstates of position gives

hξ|Hop |ψi = Ehξ|ψi = Eψ(ξ) (2.67)

Now insert Eq. (2.65) in the expression on the l.h.s., and use the results
from Eqs. (2.62) and (2.64)
Z
hξ|Hop |ψi = dξ ′ hξ|Hop |ξ ′ ihξ ′ |ψi

~2 ∂ 2
Z  
′
= dξ − + V (ξ) δ(ξ − ξ ′ )ψ(ξ ′ )
2m ∂ξ 2
~2 ∂ 2
 Z
= − + V (ξ) dξ ′ δ(ξ − ξ ′ )ψ(ξ ′ )
2m ∂ξ 2
~2 ∂ 2
 
= − + V (ξ) ψ(ξ) (2.68)
2m ∂ξ 2

Thus, in summary,

~2 ∂ 2
 
− + V (ξ) ψ(ξ) = E ψ(ξ) ; S-equation (2.69)
2m ∂ξ 2

This is just the time-independent Schrödinger equation in the coordi-

nate representation. It is the component form of the operator relation
of Eq. (2.66) in a basis of eigenstates of position.12
For the time-dependent Schrödinger equation, the state vector |Ψ(t)i
simply moves in the abstract Hilbert space with a time dependence gen-
erated by the hamiltonian. Quantum dynamics is thus summarized in the
following relations

∂
i~ |Ψ(t)i = Ĥ|Ψ(t)i ; S-equation
∂t
~
[p̂, x̂] = ; C.C.R. (2.70)
i
We make several comments:
12 The time-independent Schrödinger equation in the momentum representation is ob-
tained by projecting Eq. (2.66) onto the states |ki. This gives the components of the
operator relation in a basis of eigenstates of momentum (see Prob. 2.9).

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 Quantum Mechanics (Revisited) 23

• Here, and henceforth, we shall use a caret over a symbol to denote an

operator in the abstract Hilbert space;13
• The first equation is the abstract form of the time-dependent
Schrödinger equation;
• The second equation is the canonical commutation relation for the mo-
mentum and position operators;
• As shown above, the usual Schrödinger equation in coordinate space
is obtained by projecting the first relation on eigenstates of position;
however, these relations are now independent of the particular basis in
which we choose to express their components.

2.4.4.1 Stationary States

With a time-independent potential, one can again look for normal-mode
solutions to the time-dependent Schrödinger Eq. (2.70) of the form

|Ψ(t)i = e−iEt/~ |ψi ; normal modes (2.71)

Substitution into the first of Eqs. (2.70), and cancellation of a factor

exp (−iEt/~), leads to the stationary-state Schrödinger equation

Ĥ|ψi = E|ψi ; stationary-state S-eqn (2.72)

2.5 Measurements

We must establish the relation between these formal developments and

physical measurements. Measurement theory is a deep and extensive topic,
and we certainly shall not do justice to it here. No attempt is made to
consider implications for very complex objects with a myriad of degrees of
freedom.14 Rather, the discussion here focuses on simple systems where
measurement theory is really quite intuitive.

2.5.1 Coordinate Space

We start in coordinate space and abstract later. An observable F is repre-
sented by a linear hermitian operator (H, p, x, Lz , etc.) with an (assumed)
13 Except for the creation and destruction operators, where their operator nature is
evident (see later).
14 Schrödinger’s cat, for example (see [Wikipedia (2009)] ).

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24 Advanced Modern Physics

complete set of eigenstates15

F ufn (x) = fn ufn (x) ; eigenstates

eigenvalues f1 , f2 , · · · , f∞ (2.73)

Let Ψ(x, t) be an arbitrary wave function. At a given time t, its spatial

dependence can be expanded in the complete set of wave functions ufn (x)
X
Ψ(x, t) = afn (t) ufn (x) (2.74)
n

The wave function is assumed to be normalized so that

Z X
dx |Ψ(x, t)|2 = |afn (t)|2 = 1 (2.75)
n

We can measure the expectation value of F given by16

Z XX Z
⋆
hF i = dx Ψ (x, t)F Ψ(x, t) = afn (t)afn′ (t) dx u⋆fn (x)F ufn′ (x)
⋆

n n′
XX
= a⋆fn (t)afn′ (t)fn δnn′ (2.76)
n n′

Hence
X
hF i = |afn (t)|2 fn ; expectation value (2.77)
n

If one is in a stationary state so that

Ψ(x, t) = ψ(x)e−iEt/~ ; stationary state (2.78)

then the wave function ψ(x) can be expanded in the ufn (x) with time-
independent coefficients afn
X
ψ(x) = afn ufn (x) ; completeness (2.79)
n

It follows as above that in this case

X
1= |afn |2
n
X
hF i = |afn |2 fn ; stationary state (2.80)
n
15 For clarity, we present the following arguments in one dimension.
16 See ProbI. 4.5.

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 Quantum Mechanics (Revisited) 25

If one is also in an eigenstate of F , then

hF i = fn ; in eigenstate (2.81)

Equations (2.77) and (2.75) suggest that one should interpret the quan-
tity |afn (t)|2 as the probability of measuring the value fn at the time t if
a system is in the state Ψ(x, t). Based on this argument, we make the
following measurement postulates:
(1) If one makes a precise measurement of F , then one must observe one
of the eigenvalues fn ;
(2) If one is in an arbitrary state Ψ(x, t), then |afn (t)|2 is the probability
that one will observe the value fn for F at the time t, where17
Z
afn (t) = dx u⋆fn (x)Ψ(x, t) (2.82)

As an example, consider the free-particle wave packet of Vol. I

1
Z
Ψ(x, t) = √ dk A(k)ei(kx−ωk t) ; free particle (2.83)
2π
The probability density in coordinate space is |Ψ(x, t)|2 . The Fourier trans-
form of this relation gives
1
Z
√ dx e−ikx Ψ(x, t) = A(k)e−iωk t (2.84)
2π
√
For localized wave packets, one can take up (x) = eikx / 2π as the eigen-
states of momentum. Then, consistent with our interpretation in Vol. I,
Z 2
2 ⋆
|A(k)| = dx up (x)Ψ(x, t) ; p = ~k (2.85)

is the probability density in momentum space (see ProbI. 4.8).

2.5.2 Abstract Form

One can now proceed to abstract these results:
(1) The quantity F is represented with a linear hermitian operator F̂ with
eigenstates

F̂ |fn i = fn |fn i (2.86)

17 Alternatively, if one has a large number of identical systems with wave function
Ψ(x, t), then the fraction of measurements yielding fn will be |afn (t)|2 .

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26 Advanced Modern Physics

If one makes a precise measurement of F , then one will observe one of

the eigenvalues fn .
(2) An arbitrary state |Ψ(t)i can be expanded in the (assumed) complete
set of eigenstates of F̂ according to
X
|Ψ(t)i = afn (t)|fn i (2.87)
n

Then the probability that a measurement will yield the value fn is

|afn (t)|2 = |hfn |Ψ(t)i|2 (2.88)

In particular, |hξ|Ψ(t)i|2 = |Ψ(ξ, t)|2 is the probability density that one

will observe the value ξ if one makes a measurement of the position x. This
is how we have used the wave function Ψ(ξ, t). Now everything stands
on the same footing, and the above contains all our previous assumptions
concerning the physical interpretation of the theory.

2.5.3 Reduction of the Wave Packet

If a particle moves in a classical orbit, its position can be measured and
one finds a value q. If the measurement is repeated a short time ∆t later,
such that |∆q| ≪ |q|, one must again find the value q. Measurements must
be reproducible. How does this show up in quantum mechanics?
If one measures the quantity F at the time t and finds a value fn , then
if F is measured again right away, must again find the value fn . This is an
assumption of the reproducibility of measurements.
Suppose one is in the state
X
Ψ(x, t) = afn (t)ufn (x) (2.89)
n

If one measures F at the time t0 and finds a value fn , then right after this
measurement, the wave function must be such as to again give the value
fn , and it must be normalized. Thus, with no degeneracy, the effect of this
measurement is to reduce the wave function to the form18
afn (t0 )
Ψ(x, t0 )′ = uf (x) (2.90)
|afn (t0 )| n
This result can be abstracted and extended to lead to an additional mea-
surement postulate:
18 We speak here of “pure pass measurements” that do not modify the coefficients
afn (t).

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 Quantum Mechanics (Revisited) 27

(3) If, at the time t0 , one observes a value f for the quantity F which lies
in the inteval f ′ ≤ f ≤ f ′′ , then the state vector is reduced to
P′
af (t0 )|fn i
|Ψ(t0 )i′ = P n n
1/2 ; where f ′ ≤ fn ≤ f ′′ (2.91)
′ 2
n |afn (t0 )|
P′
Here n implies f ′ ≤ fn ≤ f ′′ .

Although this postulate may at first seem very mysterious, a little re-
flection will convince the reader that a measurement does indeed provide
a great deal of information about a system, in particular, this type of in-
formation. We briefly discuss, as an example, the classic Stern-Gerlach
experiment.

2.5.4 Stern-Gerlach Experiment

The first moral here is that in applying measurement theory, one must
always discuss the specific measurement in detail.19 Consider, for illus-
tration, a spinless, positively-charged particle in a metastable p-state in a
neutral atom, where there is no Lorentz force on the atom. There are three
possible values of Lz , the angular momentum in the z-direction, m = 0, ±1.
This atom has a magnetic moment, and if placed in a magnetic field which
determines the z-direction, and which also varies in the z-direction, it will
feel a force in the z-direction of
dBz
Fz = µz (2.92)
dz
This force acts differently on the different m components, and can be used
to separate them. Suppose a beam of these atoms, produced, say, in an
oven, is passed through an appropriate inhomogeneous magnet as sketched
in Fig. 2.1. We then note the following:
• The beam will subsequently split into three separate components with
m = 0, ±1. Each beam can be caused to pass through a separate slit
as shown in Fig. 2.1. This illustrates that one observes the eigenvalues
of Lz .
• Initially, the internal wave function of an atom can be written
X
ψint (x, t) = Rnp (r) cm (t)Y1m (θ, φ) (2.93)
m=0,±1
19 See chapter IV of [Gottfried (1966)] for a thorough discussion of the measurement
process.

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28 Advanced Modern Physics

If the center-of-mass of the atom goes through the top slit (this will
happen with probability |c+1 (t0 )|2 where t0 is the time it goes through
the magnet), then the internal wave function of the atom must be20

c+1 (t0 )
ψint (x, t) = Rnp (r)Y11 (θ, φ)e−iEnp (t−t0 )/~ (2.94)
|c+1 (t0 )|

B m=+1
z

m=0

oven m=-1
d Bz
inhomogeneous dz
magnet (A)

Fig. 2.1 Sketch of the Stern-Gerlach experiment. We will refer to the entire boxed unit
as detector (A).

If a second detector identical to (A) in Fig. 2.1 is placed after the

top slit, the beam will be observed to pass through and emerge from
its top slit with unit probability (see Fig. 2.2). This illustrates the
reproduciblity of the measurement.

m=+1

m=+1

(A)

Fig. 2.2 Detector (A) placed after the upper beam with m = +1 in Fig. 2.1.

20 Again, we assume a “pure pass measurement” here.

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 Quantum Mechanics (Revisited) 29

• If one looks for a beam emerging from the middle and bottom slits of
the second detector, there will be none. This illustrates the reduction
of the wave packet by the first measurement.

Whenever you run into apparent paradoxes in discussing the measurement

process, you should always return to this simple and fundamental example
of the analysis.

2.6 Quantum Mechanics Postulates

Here we summarize the quantum mechanics postulates arrived at in the

previous discussion. They are formulated in the abstract Hilbert space.

(1) There is a state vector |Ψ(t)i that provides a complete dynamical de-
scription of a system;
(2) An observable F is represented by a linear hermitian operator F̂ ;
(3) The operators obey canonical commutation relations, in particular
~
[p̂, x̂] = (2.95)
i
(4) The dynamics is given by the Schrödinger equation
∂
i~ |Ψ(t)i = Ĥ|Ψ(t)i (2.96)
∂t
(5) The eigenstates of a linear hermitian operator form a complete set
X
F̂ |fn i = fn |fn i ; |fn ihfn | = 1̂ (2.97)
n

(6) Measurement postulate:

(a) A precise measurement of F must yield one of the eigenvalues fn ;
(b) The probability of observing an eigenvalue fn at the time t is
|hfn |Ψ(t)i|2 ;
(c) A measurement f ′ ≤ f ≤ f ′′ at time t0 reduces the state vector to
P′
′ af (t0 )|fn i
|Ψ(t0 )i = P n n
1/2 ; where f ′ ≤ fn ≤ f ′′ (2.98)
′ 2
n |afn (t0 )|

Through his many years in physics, the author has found this to be a
complete and essential set of postulates for the implementation of quantum
mechanics.

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30 Advanced Modern Physics

2.7 Many-Particle Hilbert Space

The previous discussion has effectively focused on the quantum mechanics

of a single particle. Most of the applications discussed in Vol. I involve
many-body systems: atoms, nuclei, hadrons, and quantum fluids. The goal
of this section is to extend the previous analysis to the abstract many-
particle Hilbert space, and to make a connection with quantum field theory
as presented in chapter 12 of Vol. I. We start with a summary of the one-
dimensional simple harmonic oscillator in abstract Hilbert space.

2.7.1 Simple Harmonic Oscillator

The operator analysis of the one-dimensional simple harmonic oscillator is,
in fact, carried out in ProbsI. 4.17–4.18.21 The creation and destruction
operators (a† , a) are first defined as linear combinations of the momentum
and coordinate (p̂, q̂). The canonical commutation relations for (p̂, q̂) imply
that22

[a, a† ] = 1 (2.99)

The hermitian number operator is defined as

N̂ ≡ a† a ; number operator
Ĥ = ~ω(N̂ + 1/2) ; hamiltonian (2.100)

The second line expresses the hamiltonian in terms of the number operator.
As demonstrated in ProbsI. 4.17–4.18, it follows entirely from the general
properties of the linear hermitian operators involved that the spectrum of
the number operator consists of the positive integers and zero

N̂ |ni = n|ni ; n = 0, 1, 2, · · · , ∞
N̂ |0i = 0 ; ground state (2.101)

The last relation defines the ground state. It further follows that
√
a|ni = n |n − 1i ; destruction operator
√
a† |ni = n + 1 |n + 1i ; creation operator (2.102)
21 The reader is again strongly urged to work through those problems (see Prob. 2.1).
22 We suppress the carets on the creation and destruction operators, since it will hence-
forth be obvious that they act in the abstract occupation-number Hilbert space.

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 Quantum Mechanics (Revisited) 31

As shown in ProbI. 4.18, the eigenstates |ni can be explicitly constructed

as
1
|ni = √ (a† )n |0i (2.103)
n!
We note that this construction involves a relative phase convention.
The eigenstates of the simple harmonic oscillator in the abstract Hilbert
space are both orthonormal and complete

hn|n′ i = δnn′ ; orthonormal

X
|nihn| = 1̂ ; complete (2.104)
n

2.7.2 Bosons
With many identical bosons, one introduces a set of creation and destruc-
tion operators satisfying

[ak , a†k′ ] = δkk′ (2.105)

Here k denotes a complete set of single-particle quantum numbers appropri-

ate to the problem at hand. The basis vectors in the abstract many-particle
Hilbert space are then constructed as the direct product of the basis vectors
for each of the single-particle states

|n1 n2 · · · n∞ i ≡ |n1 i|n2 i · · · |n∞ i ; many-body basis states (2.106)

Here the subscripts {1, 2, · · · , ∞} simply represent an ordering of all possi-

ble values of k. The effects of the creation and destruction operators for any
given mode now follow from the above discussion of the simple harmonic
oscillator, and as the operators for the different modes commute, it does
not matter where one sits relative to the others.
Quantum fields are then operators in this abstract many-particle Hilbert
space. We give three examples from Vol. I:

(1) The normal modes for the transverse oscillations of a continuous string
of length L with periodic boundary conditions are given by23
1 2πm
φk (x) = √ eikx ; k= ; m = 0, ±1, ±2, · · · (2.107)
L L
23 We again suppress the subscript m on km = 2πm/L.

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32 Advanced Modern Physics

The string energy, which plays the role of free-field hamiltonian, is then
found in terms of the quantum field of the string q̂(x, t), obtained from
its classical transverse displacement, and the corresponding quantum
momentum density π̂(x, t) = σ∂ q̂(x, t)/∂t, obtained from its classical
transverse motion
X  ~ 1/2 h i
q̂(x, t) = ak ei(kx−ωk t) + a†k e−i(kx−ωk t) ; ωk = |k|c
2ωk σL
k
 1/2 h
1 X ~ωk σ i
π̂(x, t) = ak ei(kx−ωk t) − a†k e−i(kx−ωk t) (2.108)
i 2L
k

Here σ is the mass density, and c is the sound velocity. These operators,
which here carry the free-field time dependence, satisfy the canonical
equal-time commutation relations

[q̂(x, t), π̂(x′ , t′ )]t=t′ = i~δ(x − x′ ) (2.109)

The free-field hamiltonian is24

( 2 2 )
σ L

∂ q̂(x, t) ∂ q̂(x, t)
Z
Ĥ = dx + c2 (2.110)
2 0 ∂t ∂x

Substitution of the expressions in Eqs. (2.108) gives

~ωk (a†k ak + ak a†k ) =

X X
Ĥ = ~ωk (N̂k + 1/2) (2.111)
k k

This represents an infinite collection of uncoupled simple harmonic os-

cillators, as discussed above.
The energy eigenvalues for the whole system are given by25

Ĥ|n1 n2 · · · n∞ i = En1 n2 ···n∞ |n1 n2 · · · n∞ i

X
En1 n2 ···n∞ = ~ωk (nk + 1/2) (2.112)
k

The quantity nk is the number of quanta in the kth mode, and in

analogy to the quantization of light, we refer to these quanta of the
sound waves in a string as phonons.
24 Notec2 = τ /σ where τ is the tension.
25 Sincethe subscripts {1, 2, · · · , ∞} on (n1 , n2 , · · · , n∞ ) simply label the ordered
members of the set k = (0, ±2π/L, P ±4π/L, · · · ), the second of Eqs. (2.112) can equally
well be written as En1 n2 ···n∞ = ∞ i=1 ~ωi (ni + 1/2).

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 Quantum Mechanics (Revisited) 33

Various interaction terms (non-linearity in the string, a spring attached

to the string, etc.) can now be written in terms of the fields. Since these
interactions do not conserve the number of phonons, they will connect
one state to any other in the many-particle Hilbert space.
(2) The quantization of the electromagnetic field in Vol. I follows in an
analogous fashion.
(3) The non-relativistic many-body hamiltonian for a collection of identi-
cal, massive, spin-zero bosons, each with kinetic energy T = p2 /2m =
−~2 ∇2 /2m, and interacting through an instantaneous two-body po-
tential of the form V (x, y), can be written as
1
Z Z Z
3 †
Ĥ = d x ψ̂ (x)T ψ̂(x) + d x d3 y ψ̂ † (x)ψ̂ † (y)V (x, y)ψ̂(y)ψ̂(x)
3
2
(2.113)

Here the quantum field is defined by

X
ψ̂(x) ≡ ak φk (x) (2.114)
k

where the φk (x) form a complete set of solutions to a one-body

Schrödinger equation appropriate, as a starting basis, for the problem
at hand. The fields satisfy the canonical commutation relation

[ψ̂(x), ψ̂ † (x′ )] = δ (3) (x − x′ ) (2.115)

The time evolution of the many-particle system is now governed by the

many-body Schrödinger equation.26 Here, as in our original formulation
of quantum mechanics, the operators in this Schrödinger picture are
taken to be time-independent, and all the time dependence derives from
the Schrödinger equation. When the number of bosons is a constant of
the motion, as in liquid 4 He, then this hamiltonian never takes one out
of the subspace with given N (See Prob. 2.4).

2.7.3 Fermions
In the case of fermions, in order to satisfy the Pauli exclusion principle, one
quantizes with anticommutation relations instead of commutation relations.
26 Thisis called “second quantization”, since what were previously single-particle wave
functions now become field operators in the abstract many-particle Hilbert space. The
formulation of the many-body problem in second quantization is carried out in detail in
chapter 1 of [Fetter and Walecka (2003a)] .

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34 Advanced Modern Physics

For a single mode, one then has

{a, a† } ≡ aa† + a† a = 1
{a, a} = {a† , a† } = 0 (2.116)
The number operator is again defined as
N̂ ≡ a† a ; number operator (2.117)
It follows that this number operator has eigenvalues 0 and 1 (see Vol. I)
N̂ |ni = n|ni ; n = 0, 1 (2.118)
Furthermore (see ProbI 12.8)
a|1i = |0i ; a|0i = 0
a† |0i = |1i ; a† |1i = 0 (2.119)
The basis states in the abstract Hilbert space are again formed from the
direct product of the single-particle states as in Eq. (2.106); however, since
the operators for the different single-particle modes now anticommute, one
has to keep careful track of the ordering of various terms.
As an example, the non-relativistic many-body hamiltonian for a collec-
tion of identical spin-1/2 fermions, each with kinetic energy T = p2 /2m =
−~2 ∇2 /2m, and interacting through an instantaneous two-body spin-
independent potential of the form V (x, y), can again be written as
1
Z Z Z
3 † † †
Ĥ = d x ψ̂ (x)T ψ̂(x) + d x d3 y ψ̂ (x)ψ̂ (y)V (x, y) ψ̂(y)ψ̂(x)
3
2
(2.120)

Here the quantum field is defined by

X
ψ̂(x) ≡ akλ φ kλ (x) (2.121)
kλ

where the two-component spinors φ kλ (x) form a complete set of solutions

to a one-body Schrödinger equation again appropriate, as a starting basis,
for the problem at hand. The index λ = (↑, ↓) denotes the two spin projec-
tions.27 The components of the field, in this case, now satisfy the canonical
anticommutation relation
{ψ̂α (x), ψ̂β† (x′ )} = δαβ δ (3) (x − x′ ) (2.122)

27 The spinors with the same coordinate label are to be paired in Eq. (2.120).

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 Chapter 4

Scattering Theory

Given a hamiltonian Ĥ, the goal of this chapter is to solve the Schrödinger
equation for a scattering problem and derive general expressions for the
S-matrix, T -matrix, and transition rate, many of whose consequences have
already been examined in Vol. I.1 We work in the abstract Hilbert space.

4.1 Interaction Picture

Assume the hamiltonian can be split into two parts Ĥ = Ĥ0 + Ĥ1 , the
first part of which leads to an exactly solvable problem, for example, free
quanta with no interactions. Ĥ1 may, or may not, have an explicit time
dependence; that depends on the problem at hand.2 We then want to solve
the Schrödinger equation

Ĥ = Ĥ0 + Ĥ1
∂
i~ |Ψ(t)i = Ĥ |Ψ(t)i ; Schrödinger-equation (4.1)
∂t

Define a new state vector |ΨI (t)i by

i
|ΨI (t)i ≡ e ~ Ĥ0 t |Ψ(t)i ; interaction picture
|ΨI (0)i = |Ψ(0)i ; coincide at t = 0 (4.2)

1 For a comprehensive treatment of scattering theory, see [Goldberger and Watson

]
(2004) .
2 Scattering in a given external field, for example, may lead to an explicitly time-

dependent Ĥ1 (t).

69

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70 Advanced Modern Physics

What equation of motion does this new state satisfy? Just compute
∂ i i ∂
i~ |ΨI (t)i = −Ĥ0 e ~ Ĥ0 t |Ψ(t)i + e ~ Ĥ0 t i~ |Ψ(t)i
∂t ∂t
i i
Ĥ t
= −Ĥ0 |ΨI (t)i + e ~ 0
(Ĥ0 + Ĥ1 )e− ~ Ĥ0 t |ΨI (t)i (4.3)

The terms in Ĥ0 cancel, and thus

∂
i~ |ΨI (t)i = ĤI (t)|ΨI (t)i ; interaction picture
∂t
i i
ĤI (t) ≡ e ~ Ĥ0 t Ĥ1 e− ~ Ĥ0 t (4.4)

The advantage of this new formulation is that in the limit Ĥ1 → 0, the
state |ΨI (t)i becomes time-independent; the free time variation, which can
be extremely rapid, has been explicitly dealt with. Equations (4.2) and
(4.4) are said to be a formulation of the problem in the interaction picture.

4.2 Adiabatic Approach

We will find that when we try to solve the resulting equations and generate
the S-matrix, there will be infinite time integrals to carry out over oscil-
lating integrands. In order to give the theory a well-defined mathematical
meaning, we introduce an adiabatic damping factor e−ǫ|t| with ǫ ≥ 0, and
use the following interaction in the interaction picture

ĤIǫ (t) ≡ e−ǫ|t| ĤI (t) ; adiabatic damping (4.5)

The theory is then defined to be what is obtained in the limit as

ǫ → 0.3

This is a somewhat archaic approach, and there are more sophisticated

ways of doing formal scattering theory, which, however, can easily lead
to spurious results if one is not very careful and thoughtful. The great
advantage of this adiabatic approach is that it allows one to do well-defined
mathematics at each step.
One can imagine that the interaction in Eq. (4.5) is being turned on
and off very slowly (“adiabatically”) as the time t → ±∞, that is, in
the infinite past and infinite future.4 This allows us to easily specify the
initial and final states in any scattering process, since now as t → ±∞,
3 There may, or may not, be other limits — we will not go there.
4 Explicitly dealing with the scattering of wave packets can play the same role.

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 Scattering Theory 71

the hamiltonian simply reduces to Ĥ0 , and we know how to solve the non-
interacting problem

Ĥ = Ĥ0 ; t → ±∞
∂
i~ |Ψ(t)i = Ĥ0 |Ψ(t)i
∂t
i
|Ψ(t)i = e− ~ E0 t |ψi (4.6)

Here |ψi is simply a solution to the free, time-independent, Schrödinger

equation

Ĥ0 |ψi = E0 |ψi (4.7)

The interaction-picture state vector in Eq. (4.2) is then given in this same
limit by

i
|ΨI (t)i = e ~ Ĥ0 t |Ψ(t)i = |ψi ; t → ±∞
∂
i~ |ΨI (t)i = 0 (4.8)
∂t

Thus, in summary, with the adiabatic approach in the interaction picture,

one has

|ΨI (t)i = |ψi ; t → ±∞

Ĥ0 |ψi = E0 |ψi (4.9)

One starts with an initial state of this type, and then slowly turns on and
off the interaction. The transition amplitude into a final state of this type is
then calculated. The (transition probability)/(time interval the interaction
is on) gives the transition rate,5 and the path from the transition rate to a
cross section was detailed in Vol. I.
It is then necessary to determine what happens when the interaction
in Eq. (4.5) is turned on and off adiabatically. This is done through the
construction of the time-development operator for the problem.

5 We shall get more sophisticated here and actually derive a general expression for the
transition rate itself.

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4.3 Û -Operator

Let us look for an operator that develops our system in time

|ΨI (t)i = Ûǫ (t, t0 )|ΨI (t0 )i

∂ ∂
i~ |ΨI (t)i = i~ Ûǫ (t, t0 )|ΨI (t0 )i = ĤIǫ (t)Ûǫ (t, t0 )|ΨI (t0 )i (4.10)
∂t ∂t

If this is to hold for all |ΨI (t0 )i, then Ûǫ (t, t0 ) must satisfy the operator
relation
∂
i~ Ûǫ (t, t0 ) = ĤIǫ (t)Ûǫ (t, t0 )
∂t
Ûǫ (t0 , t0 ) = 1 (4.11)

This differential equation, with its initial condition, can be rewritten as an

integral equation

t
i
Z
′
Ûǫ (t, t0 ) = 1 − e−ǫ|t | ĤI (t′ )Ûǫ (t′ , t0 ) dt′ (4.12)
~ t0

It is readily verified that Eqs. (4.11) are reproduced by this expression.

We will try to find a solution to this equation as a power series in ĤI .6
Let us substitute this expression for Ûǫ (t′ , t0 ) in the integrand on the r.h.s.

i t −ǫ|t′ |
Z
Ûǫ (t, t0 ) = 1 − e ĤI (t′ ) dt′ +
~ t0
 2 Z t Z t′
i −ǫ|t′ | ′ ′ ′′
− e ĤI (t ) dt e−ǫ|t | ĤI (t′′ )Ûǫ (t′′ , t0 ) dt′′ (4.13)
~ t0 t0

This expression is still exact. Repeated application of this process leads to

the following infinite series in ĤI

∞  n Z t Z t1 Z tn−1
X i −ǫ|t1 | −ǫ|t2 |
Ûǫ (t, t0 ) = − e dt1 e dt2 · · · e−ǫ|tn | dtn ×
n=0
~ t0 t0 t0

ĤI (t1 )ĤI (t2 ) · · · ĤI (tn ) (4.14)

6 One
can only expect a power series to hold for scattering amplitudes at all energies
in the absence of bound states; however, we will eventually “zip things up again” and
obtain closed forms that are also valid in the presence of bound states.

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 Scattering Theory 73

By convention, the first term in this series is 1. Note that it is important

to keep the ordering of the operators ĤI (t) straight in the integrand, since
they do not necessarily commute at different times. It is easy to remember
the ordering since the operators are time-ordered, with the operator at the
latest time appearing furthest to the left.
Equation (4.14) can be rewritten in the following manner
∞  n
1 t −ǫ|t1 |
Z t Z t
i
X Z
−ǫ|t2 |
Ûǫ (t, t0 ) = − e dt1 e dt2 · · · e−ǫ|tn | dtn ×
n=0
~ n! t0 t0 t0
h i
T ĤI (t1 )ĤI (t2 ) · · · ĤI (tn ) ; t ≥ t0 (4.15)

Here
Rt
• All the integrals are now over the full range t0 ;
• The “T-product” carries the instruction that the operators are to be
time-ordered, with the operator at the latest time sitting to the left;
• Each term in the sum is divided by n!.

The proof that Eq. (4.15) reproduces Eq. (4.14) is quite simple. There
are n! possible orderings of the times in the multiple integral, pick one, say
t1 > t2 > t3 > · · · > tn . All possible time orderings of these integration
variables provides a complete enumeration of the region of integration in
the multiple integral. The operator in the integrand is time-ordered in each
case. But now all of these contributions are identical by a change of dummy
integration variables. Thus Eq. (4.14) is reproduced.7
The scattering operator Ŝ is now defined in the following manner

Ŝ ≡ Limǫ→0 Limt→+∞ Limt0 →−∞ Ûǫ (t, t0 ) (4.16)

One lets the initial time t0 → −∞, the final time t → +∞, and then, at the
very end, the limit of the adiabatic damping factor ǫ → 0 is taken. Thus

Ŝ = Limǫ→0 Ŝǫ
∞  n Z ∞ Z ∞
X i 1 −ǫ|t1 |
= Limǫ→0 − e dt1 · · · e−ǫ|tn | dtn ×
n=0
~ n! −∞ −∞
h i
T ĤI (t1 )ĤI (t2 ) · · · ĤI (tn ) (4.17)

Everything so far has assumed t ≥ t0 in Eqs. (4.11) and the subsequent

development; however, one can equally well write these equations for t ≤ t0 .
7 The explicit demonstration of this equality for n = 2 is assigned as Prob. 4.1.

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74 Advanced Modern Physics

How is the above analysis modified? Write Eq. (4.12) in the following
fashion
i t0 −ǫ|t′ |
Z
Ûǫ (t, t0 ) = 1 + e ĤI (t′ )Ûǫ (t′ , t0 ) dt′ (4.18)
~ t
It is readily verified that this expression reproduces Eqs. (4.11), and it
is most convenient since the integral now runs in the positive direction if
t0 ≥ t. A repetition of the above arguments in this case then leads to the
following infinite series
∞  n
1 t0 −ǫ|t1 |
Z t0 Z t0
i
X Z
−ǫ|t2 |
Ûǫ (t, t0 ) = e dt1 e dt2 · · · e−ǫ|tn | dtn ×
n=0
~ n! t t t
h i
T ĤI (t1 )ĤI (t2 ) · · · ĤI (tn ) ; t ≤ t0 (4.19)

The “ T -product” instructs the operators to be anti-time-ordered such that

the operator with the earliest time sits to the left. A simple reversal of the
limits of integration in each integral then gives the equivalent expression
∞  n
1 t −ǫ|t1 |
Z t Z t
i
X Z
−ǫ|t2 |
Ûǫ (t, t0 ) = − e dt1 e dt2 · · · e−ǫ|tn | dtn ×
n=0
~ n! t0 t0 t0
h i
T ĤI (t1 )ĤI (t2 ) · · · ĤI (tn ) ; t ≤ t0 (4.20)

We are now in a position to exhibit some of the properties of Ûǫ (t, t0 )

from these series expansions:8
(1) Since the adjoint of a product is the product of the adjoints in the
reverse order, it follows immediately from Eqs. (4.15) and (4.19) that

Ûǫ (t, t0 )† = Ûǫ (t0 , t) (4.21)

which holds for both t > t0 and t < t0 .

(2) If one ends up back at the start time, no matter whether t > t0 or
t < t0 , it must be true that

Ûǫ (t0 , t)Ûǫ (t, t0 ) = 1 (4.22)

This follows from the series expansions, and the explicit demonstration of
this relation for n = 2 is left as Prob. 4.1.
(3) It follows from the results in (1) and (2) that

Ûǫ (t, t0 )† = Ûǫ (t, t0 )−1 ; unitary (4.23)

8 Note that relations (1)–(4) hold for finite ǫ.

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 Scattering Theory 75

The time-evolution operator is unitary. We know this must be true, since

the Schrödinger equation preserves the norm of the states. This is now
readily verified from the relation

hΨI (t)|ΨI (t)i = hΨI (t0 )|Ûǫ (t, t0 )† Ûǫ (t, t0 )|ΨI (t0 )i
= hΨI (t0 )|Ûǫ (t, t0 )−1 Ûǫ (t, t0 )|ΨI (t0 )i
= hΨI (t0 )|ΨI (t0 )i (4.24)

(4) If one propagates the system from t0 → t1 , and then from t1 → t2 ,

the result must be the same as propagation from t0 → t2 . Thus the time-
evolution operator must obey the group property

Ûǫ (t2 , t1 )Ûǫ (t1 , t0 ) = Ûǫ (t2 , t0 ) ; group property (4.25)

Let us demonstrate this result for t2 > t1 > t0 . The result in (2) can then
be used to extend it to any relative times. For example, if t1 > t2 , just
write

Ûǫ (t2 , t1 )Ûǫ (t1 , t0 ) = Ûǫ (t2 , t1 )Ûǫ (t1 , t2 )Ûǫ (t2 , t0 )
= Ûǫ (t2 , t0 ) ; t1 > t2 (4.26)

Write out the νth term in the sum on the r.h.s. of Eq. (4.25)
ν
1 t2 −ǫ|t′1 | ′
 Z t2
i
Z
′
Ûǫ(ν) (t2 , t0 ) = − e dt1 · · · e−ǫ|tν | dt′ν ×
~ ν! t0 t0
h i
T ĤI (t′1 )ĤI (t′2 ) · · · ĤI (t′ν ) (4.27)

Now note:

• There are ν!/n!m! ways to partition the times t′1 · · · t′ν so that n times
are greater than the intermediate time t1 , and m times are less than t1
— pick one;
• Now integrate over all possible relative orderings of the times within
this particular partition;
• Then sum over all possible choices of the times within this particu-
lar partition. This provides a complete enumeration of the regions of
integration for a given (n, m) ;
• The contributions in the sum are identical by a change of dummy in-
tegration variables, giving ν!/n!m! equal contributions;

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• Then sum over all values of (n, m) for which m + n = ν. This provides
a complete evaluation of the multiple integral in Eq. (4.27)
 n+m
1 X i ν!
Ûǫ(ν) (t2 , t0 )= − × (4.28)
ν! n+m=ν ~ n!m!
Z t2 Z t2 h i
−ǫ|t′1 | ′ ′
e dt1 · · · e−ǫ|tn| dt′n T ĤI (t′1 ) · · · ĤI (t′n ) ×
t1 t1
Z t1 Z t1 h i
−ǫ|t′n+1 | ′
e dt′n+1 ··· e−ǫ|tn+m| dt′n+m T ĤI (t′n+1 ) · · · ĤI (t′n+m )
t0 t0
P P P P
• Finally, use ν n+m=ν = n m. This establishes Eq. (4.25).

4.4 Û -Operator for Finite Times

We started from the hamiltonian

Ĥǫ = Ĥ0 + e−ǫ|t| Ĥ1 (4.29)

In the end, we are to take the limit ǫ → 0, which restores the proper
hamiltonian. Let us assume that we have used the preceding analysis to
propagate the system from its initial state at t0 → −∞ to a finite time such
that

|t| ≪ 1/ǫ ; finite time (4.30)

Now, for this time,

Ĥ = Ĥ0 + Ĥ1 ; full Ĥ (4.31)

In this case, we can write a formal solution to the full Schrödinger equation
as9
i
|Ψi (t)i = e− ~ Ĥt |Ψi (0)i (4.32)

Here |Ψi (0)i = |ΨiI (0)i is the state that has propagated up to the time t = 0
from the initial state |ψi i prepared at t0 → −∞ [see Eqs. (4.2)]. With the
aid of the previous time-evolution operator, one can write this state as
(+)
|Ψi (0)i = |ΨiI (0)i = Ûǫ (0, −∞)|ψi i ≡ |ψi i (4.33)
9 We assume here and henceforth that Ĥ1 now has no explicit time dependence.

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 Scattering Theory 77

(+)
This relation defines |ψi i. A combination of Eqs. (4.32) and (4.33) allows
the solution to the Schrödinger equation at a finite time, which satisfies
Eq. (4.30), to be expressed as
i (+)
|Ψi (t)i = e− ~ Ĥt |ψi i (4.34)

Some comments:

• This is the full Schrödinger state vector that develops from the state
|ψi i at t0 → −∞ ;
• One needs the adiabatic damping factor to bring that state vector up
(+)
to finite time with |Ψi (0)i = Ûǫ (0, −∞)|ψi i ≡ |ψi i ;
• From there, one can use the formal solution to the full Schrödinger
equation in Eq. (4.34).

We note that under the conditions that one can indeed use the formal
solution to the full Schrödinger equation, it follows that the interaction-
picture state vector at the time t is given by
i i i
|ΨI (t)i = e ~ Ĥ0 t |Ψ(t)i = e ~ Ĥ0 t e− ~ Ĥ(t−t0 ) |Ψ(t0 )i
i i i
= e ~ Ĥ0 t e− ~ Ĥ(t−t0 ) e− ~ Ĥ0 t0 |ΨI (t0 )i (4.35)

Here |ΨI (t0 )i is the interaction-picture state vector at the time t0 . But now
we can immediately identify the time development operator Û (t, t0 ) from
the first of Eqs. (4.10)!
i i i
Û(t, t0 ) = e ~ Ĥ0 t e− ~ Ĥ(t−t0 ) e− ~ Ĥ0 t0 ; |t|, |t0 | ≪ 1/ǫ (4.36)

It is only necessary to keep careful track of the ordering of the operators,

and make sure that one never interchanges factors that do not commute.
Several of our previous properties of the time-development operator
follow immediately from the expression in Eq. (4.36):

Û (t, t0 )† = Û(t0 , t)
Û (t, t0 )† = Û(t, t0 )−1 ; unitary
Û (t1 , t2 )Û (t2 , t3 ) = Û(t1 , t3 ) ; group property (4.37)

4.5 The S-Matrix

The interaction-picture state vector in the infinite future |ΨI (+∞)i that
develops from the interaction-picture state vector in the infinite past

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78 Advanced Modern Physics

|ΨI (−∞)i is obtained with the scattering operator in Eq. (4.17)

|ΨI (+∞)i = Ŝ |ΨI (−∞)i ; scattering operator (4.38)

Now, with the adiabatic damping factor, the interaction state vectors in
the infinite past and infinite future are simple, they are just the individual
non-interacting state vectors in Eq. (4.9), or linear combinations of them.
Thus, if one starts with one such prepared state |ΨiI (−∞)i = |ψi i, and
asks for the probability for finding a particular state |ψf i in the final state
|ΨiI (+∞)i that evolves, in the presence of all the interactions, from that
initial prepared state, one has

Pf i = |hψf |ΨiI (+∞)i|2 = |hψf |Ŝ |ΨiI (−∞)i|2 = |hψf |Ŝ|ψi i|2 (4.39)

This is the probability of finding the initial state |ψi i in the final state |ψf i
after the scattering has taken place. Here |ψi i and |ψf i are eigenstates of
the free hamiltonian Ĥ0 . The amplitude for this process to take place is
given by the S-matrix

Sf i ≡ hψf |Ŝ|ψi i ; S-matrix (4.40)

It was argued in Vol. I that the general form of the S-matrix for a
scattering process is

Sf i = δf i − 2πiδ(Ef − Ei ) T̃f i (4.41)

where T̃f i is the T -matrix. There will always be an energy-conserving delta

function here coming out of any calculation.10
The probability of making a transition to a state f 6= i is therefore

Pf i = |2πiδ(Ef − Ei )|2 |T̃f i |2 ; probability of transition (4.42)

It was argued in Vol. I that the square of the energy-conserving δ-function

is to be interpreted as
T /2
1
Z
i
2
|2πiδ(Ef − Ei )| = 2πδ(Ef − Ei ) dt e ~ (Ef −Ei )t
~ −T /2
2π
= δ(Ef − Ei )T ; T →∞ (4.43)
~
10 Compare Eq. (4.53) and Prob. 4.8. In Vol. I we removed some additional factors in
the definition of the T -matrix element Tf i [see EqI. (7.36) and Eq. (7.38)].

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 Scattering Theory 79

where T → ∞ is the total time the interaction is turned on. The transition
rate is then given by
Pf i
ωf i =
T
2π
ωf i = δ(Ef − Ei )|T̃f i |2 ; transition rate (f 6= i) (4.44)
~
This is the transition rate into one final state in the continuum. To get the
transition rate into the group of states that actually get into our detectors
when the states are spaced very close together, one must multiply this
expression by the appropriate number of states dnf . To get a cross section,
one divides by the incident flux
2π dnf
dσ = δ(Ef − Ei )|T̃f i |2 ; cross section (4.45)
~ Iinc
Some comments:

• All of these expressions were discussed and utilized frequently in Vol. I;

• Eq. (4.44) is the full expression for Fermi’s Golden Rule, to all orders
in the interaction;
• The derivation of the result for the transition rate involves some refine-
ment when adiabatic switching is invoked, in contrast to the sudden
turn-on and turn-off of the interaction in Vol. I; however, a proper
derivation of the transition rate in this case, which we shall subse-
quently carry out, gives essentially the same result

Sf i = δf i − 2πiδ(Ef − Ei ) T̃f i
2 2π
ωf i = δf i Im T̃ii + δ(Ef − Ei )|T̃f i |2 ; transition rate (4.46)
~ ~

4.6 Time-Independent Analysis

We will now perform some formal manipulations on the above results. Let
us try to explicitly carry out the time integrations in the general term in the
S-matrix in Eq. (4.17), which we rewrite in its initial time-ordered form
 n Z ∞ Z t1 Z tn−1
(n) i −ǫ|t1 | −ǫ|t2 |
hψf |Ŝǫ |ψi i = − e dt1 e dt2 · · · e−ǫ|tn | dtn
~ −∞ −∞ −∞
i i i i
×hψf |e ~ Ĥ0 t1 Ĥ1 e− ~ Ĥ0 t1 e ~ Ĥ0 t2 Ĥ1 e− ~ Ĥ0 t2 · · ·
i i i
· · · Ĥ1 e− ~ Ĥ0 tn−1 e ~ Ĥ0 tn Ĥ1 e− ~ Ĥ0 tn |ψi i (4.47)

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80 Advanced Modern Physics

Here we have simply written out hψf |ĤI (t1 ) · · · ĤI (tn )|ψi i in detail.
We will change variables in the integrals as follows

x1 = t1 ; t1 = x1
x2 = t2 − t1 ; t2 = x1 + x2
x3 = t3 − t2 ; t3 = x1 + x2 + x3
.. ..
. .
xn = tn − tn−1 ; tn = x1 + x2 + · · · + xn (4.48)

First, let the hamiltonians Ĥ0 on either end of the operator in Eq. (4.47)
act on |ψi i and |ψf i, which are eigenstates of Ĥ0 with eigenvalues E0 and
Ef respectively. Equation (4.47) then can be written as
 n Z ∞ Z t1 Z tn−1
(n) i −ǫ|t1 | −ǫ|t2 |
hψf |Ŝǫ |ψi i = − e dt1 e dt2 · · · e−ǫ|tn | dtn
~ −∞ −∞ −∞
i i i i i
×hψf |e ~ (Ef −E0 )t1 Ĥ1 e− ~ Ĥ0 (t1 −t2 ) e ~ E0 (t1 −t2 ) Ĥ1 e− ~ Ĥ0 (t2 −t3 ) e ~ E0 (t2 −t3 ) · · ·
i i
· · · e− ~ Ĥ0 (tn−1 −tn ) e ~ E0 (tn−1 −tn ) Ĥ1 |ψi i (4.49)

Next, introduce the change in variables in Eqs. (4.48), starting from the
right
 n Z ∞
(n) i i
hψf |Ŝǫ |ψi i = − e ~ (Ef −E0 )x1 e−ǫ|x1 | dx1 ×
~ −∞
Z 0
i
hψf |Ĥ1 dx2 e{− ~ (E0 −Ĥ0 )x2 −ǫ|x1 +x2 |} Ĥ1 ×
−∞
Z 0
i
dx3 e{− ~ (E0 −Ĥ0 )x3 −ǫ|x1 +x2 +x3 |} Ĥ1 × · · ·
−∞
Z 0
i
· · · Ĥ1 dxn e{− ~ (E0 −Ĥ0 )xn −ǫ|x1 +···+xn |} Ĥ1 |ψi i (4.50)
−∞

Now do all the integrals starting on the right, keeping all the other variables
fixed while so doing.
Consider the first integral over dxn at fixed (x1 , · · · , xn−1 ). What we
(n)
really need is Limǫ→0 hψf |Ŝǫ |ψi i. Since the damping factors are just there
to cut off the oscillating exponentials, we should get the same results no
matter how we go to that limit, if the theory is to make sense. We claim
.
that in the limit, we can replace e−ǫ|x1 +···+xn | = eǫxn in the integral over
xn , since it is only important for very large negative xn . Repetition of this

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 Scattering Theory 81

argument, as we do the integrals from right to left, allows us to replace

Z Z
Lim ǫ→0 · · · e−ǫ|x1 | e−ǫ|x1 +x2 | · · · e−ǫ|x1 +···xn | · · · =
Z Z
Lim ǫ→0 · · · e−ǫ|x1 | eǫx2 · · · eǫxn · · · (4.51)

The integrals now factor, and they can all be immediately carried out
 n
(n) i
hψf |Ŝǫ |ψi i = − 2π~ δ(Ef − E0 ) ×
~
1 1
hψf |Ĥ1 Ĥ1 Ĥ1 · · ·
−i(E0 − Ĥ0 )/~ + ǫ −i(E0 − Ĥ0 )/~ + ǫ
1
··· Ĥ1 |ψi i
−i(E0 − Ĥ0 )/~ + ǫ
(4.52)

The operator Ĥ1 appears n times in this expression. This equation has
meaning in terms of a complete set of eigenstates of Ĥ0 inserted be-
tween each term. With the redefinition ǫ~ ≡ ε, one arrives at the time-
independent power series expansion of the S-matrix

Limε→0 hψf |Ŝε |ψi i = hψf |ψi i − Limε→0 2πiδ(Ef − E0 ) ×

∞  n
X 1
hψf |Ĥ1 Ĥ1 |ψi i (4.53)
n=0 E0 − Ĥ 0 + iε

Several comments:

• The n = 0 term is exactly Fermi’s Golden Rule (see Vol. I);

• The +iε in the denominator, with the sign coming from the correct
convergence factor in the integrals, just determines the correct boundary
conditions to put in the Green’s function (see later);
• We have proceeded to take the ε → 0 limit in the final factor
Z ∞
i
Lim ǫ→0 dx1 e{ ~ (Ef −E0 )x1 −ǫ|x1 |} = 2π~ δ(Ef − E0 ) (4.54)
−∞

• The T -matrix can now be identified from Eqs. (4.41) and (4.53)

T̃f i ≡ hψf |T̂ |ψi i

∞  n
X 1
hψf |T̂ |ψi i = hψf |Ĥ1 Ĥ1 |ψi i ; T-matrix (4.55)
n=0 E0 − Ĥ0 + iε

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82 Advanced Modern Physics

• This last relation can be rewritten as

(+)
hψf |T̂ |ψi i = hψf |Ĥ1 |ψi i
∞  n
(+)
X 1
|ψi i ≡ Ĥ1 |ψi i (4.56)
n=0 E 0 − Ĥ 0 + iε
(+)
We show below that this is indeed identical to the state |ψi i pre-
viously introduced in Eq. (4.33). If the first term is separated out in
(+)
Eq. (4.56), and the series for |ψi i again identified in the second, this
relation can be rewritten as
(+) 1 (+)
|ψi i = |ψi i + Ĥ1 |ψi i ; Lippmann-Schwinger (4.57)
E0 − Ĥ0 + iε
In this form, when projected into the coordinate representation, one
(+)
has an integral equation for |ψi i. This is the Lippmann-Schwinger
equation [Lippmann and Schwinger (1950)], which has a meaning that
extends beyond the power series expansion though which it has been
derived. Note that from Eq. (4.57), one observes
(+) (+)
(E0 − Ĥ0 )|ψi i = Ĥ1 |ψi i
(+)
or (E0 − Ĥ)|ψi i=0 ; Ω→∞
ε→0 (4.58)
(+)
Thus the state |ψi i, in the limits as the quantization volume Ω → ∞,
and as the adiabatic damping factor ε → 0, is a scattering state that
is an eigenstate of the full Ĥ with eigenvalue E0 .11 This is the same
energy we started with at t → −∞ in the interaction picture.
• One therefore does not generate all of the eigenstates of Ĥ in this
manner, if there are bound states, but only the continuum scattering
states.12
• The terms with n ≥ 1 in Eq. (4.56) give the higher Born approximations
for the scattering amplitude. This is just “old-fashioned” perturbation
theory, except that with the +iε in them, we now know what to do
when the denominators vanish.
• People tried to do QED with this perturbation scheme; however, by
singling out the time integration, the scattering amplitude is no longer
11 Although the dependence on Ω is not explicit, we know, for example, that with a
potential V (r) in a big box with rigid walls there will be a finite shift in the energy levels
as the interaction is turned on; this energy shift only vanishes in the limit Ω → ∞.
12 The completeness relation is now
P (+) (+) P
i |ψi ihψi | + bnd states |ψb ihψb | = 1̂.

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 Scattering Theory 83

explicitly covariant. Infinities arise from various sources, which are not
interpretable in a non-covariant approach. We will find that by leaving
the time integrations in, and starting from Eq. (4.17), we are able to
maintain a covariant, gauge-invariant S-matrix, which proves essential
to developing a consistent renormalization scheme.13

4.7 Scattering State

The Heisenberg picture for the state vector is defined as follows

i
|ΨH i ≡ e ~ Ĥt |Ψ(t)i ; Heisenberg picture (4.59)

Correspondingly, an operator in the Heisenberg picture is defined by

i i
ÔH ≡ e ~ Ĥt Ô e− ~ Ĥt ; Heisenberg picture (4.60)

It follows from Eq. (4.32) that the Heisenberg state vector is independent
of time14
∂
i~ |ΨH i = 0 (4.61)
∂t
The interaction-picture state vector is defined in Eq. (4.2). The state vec-
tors in all the different pictures coincide at t = 0

|ΨH i = |Ψ(0)i = |ΨI (0)i (4.62)

(+)
This provides further motivation for looking at the scattering state |ψi i
defined in Eq. (4.33) by
(+)
|ψi i ≡ Ûǫ (0, −∞)|ψi i (4.63)

The nth order contribution to Ûε (0, −∞) explicitly contains n powers
of Ĥ1
 n Z 0 Z t1 Z tn−1
(n) i ǫt1 ǫt2
Ûǫ (0, −∞)|ψi i = − e dt1 e dt2 · · · eǫtn dtn ×
~ −∞ −∞ −∞
i i i i i
e ~ Ĥ0 t1 Ĥ1 e− ~ Ĥ0 (t1 −t2 ) Ĥ1 e− ~ Ĥ0 (t2 −t3 ) · · · e− ~ Ĥ0 (tn−1 −tn ) Ĥ1 e− ~ Ĥ0 tn |ψi i
(4.64)
13 Seethe discussion in Vol. I.
14 We remind the reader of the assumption, at this point, that Ĥ has no explicit time
dependence.

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84 Advanced Modern Physics

In comparing with our starting point in Eq. (4.47) from which we proceeded
to explicitly carrying out the time integrations, we note two differences:

• All the times satisfy t ≤ 0, hence the adiabatic damping factors in all
cases become e−ǫ|t| = eǫt ;
• There is no eigenstate |ψf i on the left, and hence the operator Ĥ0 on
the left can no longer be replaced by its eigenvalue Ef .

We may proceed to change variables as in Eqs. (4.48)–(4.50). This time,

instead of e−ǫ|x1 +x2 +···+xn | , for example, we have eǫ(x1 +x2 +···+xn ) so that
all the adiabatic damping factors can simply be moved to their appropriate
position in the multiple integral. Thus we arrive at
 n Z 0
(n) i i
Ûǫ (0, −∞)|ψi i = − dx1 enǫx1 e ~ (Ĥ0 −E0 )x1 Ĥ1 ×
~ −∞
Z 0 Z 0
(n−1)ǫx2 ~i (Ĥ0 −E0 )x2 i
dx2 e e Ĥ1 dx3 e(n−2)ǫx3 e ~ (Ĥ0 −E0 )x3 Ĥ1 × · · ·
−∞ −∞
Z 0
i
· · · Ĥ1 dxn eǫxn e ~ (Ĥ0 −E0 )xn Ĥ1 |ψi i (4.65)
−∞

All the integrals now explicitly factor, and they can immediately be done
just as before with the result
1 1
Ûε(n) (0, −∞)|ψi i = Ĥ1 Ĥ1 · · ·
E0 − Ĥ0 + inε E0 − Ĥ0 + i(n − 1)ε
1
··· Ĥ1 |ψi i (4.66)
E0 − Ĥ0 + iε
Again, we are interested in the limit as ε → 0. Each of the in̄ε in the
denominators, where n̄ = (1, 2, · · · , n), simply serves to define how one
treats the singularity in the individual Green’s functions.15 Hence, we can
simply replace them all by iε in the limit. Thus we indeed reproduce the
previously employed expression in Eq. (4.56)
(+)
|ψi i = Ûε (0, −∞)|ψi i
∞  n
X 1
= Ĥ1 |ψi i ; scattering state (4.67)
n=0 E0 − Ĥ0 + iε

Again, by separating out the first term in the second line, and then re-
15 They serve to define a contour in the evaluation of the Green’s functions (see later).

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 Scattering Theory 85

(+)
identifying the series for |ψi i, this can be rewritten as an integral equation

(+) 1 (+)
|ψi i = |ψi i + Ĥ1 |ψi i (4.68)
E0 − Ĥ0 + iε

and the integral equation has a meaning, even when the power series solu-
tion to it does not.
(−)
Let us also consider the fully interacting state |ψf i ≡ |ΨfI (0)i that as
(−)
t → +∞ reduces to the state |ψf i, so that |ψf i = Ûǫ (0, +∞)|ψf i. If we go
back to Eq. (4.19), and go through the arguments leading from Eq. (4.64)
to (4.67), we see that the only changes are the replacements E0 → Ef and
ε → −ε (see Prob. 4.3). Thus
(−)
|ψf i ≡ Ûε (0, +∞)|ψf i
∞
!n
X 1
= Ĥ1 |ψf i ; scattering state (4.69)
n=0 Ef − Ĥ0 − iε

This can again be written as an integral equation, which has meaning even
when the power series solution for it does not

(−) 1 (−)
|ψf i = |ψf i + Ĥ1 |ψf i (4.70)
Ef − Ĥ0 − iε

The state |ψ (+) i is known as the outgoing scattering state, and |ψ (−) i as
the incoming scattering state.16
There are some important properties of these scattering states that fol-
low immediately:

(1) The unitarity of the Ûε operator implies that

(+) (+)
hψi′ |ψi i = hψi′ |Ûε (0, −∞)† Ûε (0, −∞)|ψi i = hψi′ |ψi i = δi′ i (4.71)

Similarly17
(−) (−)
hψf ′ |ψf i = δf ′ f (4.72)
16 The Green’s function in the former case has outgoing scattered waves, while in the
latter case they are incoming [compare Eq. (4.107) and Prob. 4.9].
17 The completeness relation can also be written
P (−) (−) P
f |ψf ihψf | + bnd states
|ψb ihψb | = 1̂.

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(2) Furthermore, from Eq. (4.21) and the group property of Ûε , it follows
that
(−) (+)
hψf |ψi i = hψf |Ûε (0, +∞)† Ûε (0, −∞)|ψi i
= hψf |Ûε (+∞, 0)Ûε (0, −∞)|ψi i
= hψf |Ûε (+∞, −∞)|ψi i (4.73)
(−) (+)
Thus the inner product of |ψf i and |ψi i is just the S-matrix!
(−) (+)
hψf |ψi i = hψf |Ŝ|ψi i ; S-matrix (4.74)

(3) Since taking the adjoint merely reverses the order of the operators and
changes the sign of the iε, the T -matrix in Eq. (4.55) can also be written
in the case Ef = E0 as
∞  n
X 1
hψf |T̂ |ψi i = hψf |Ĥ1 Ĥ1 |ψi i
n=0 E0 − Ĥ0 + iε
"∞  n #†
X 1
= hψf | Ĥ1 Ĥ1 |ψi i
n=0 E 0 − Ĥ 0 − iε
(−)
= hψf |Ĥ1 |ψi i ; Ef = E0 (4.75)

(4) Thus, in summary, in addition to the explicit power-series expansions

in Eqs. (4.53) and (4.55), we have expressions for the S-matrix and
T -matrix in terms of the incoming and outgoing scattering states that
are more general than the power-series solutions through which they
were derived
(−) (+)
hψf |Ŝ|ψi i = hψf |ψi i ; S-matrix
= hψf |ψi i − 2πiδ(Ef − E0 )hψf |T̂ |ψi i
(+) (−)
hψf |T̂ |ψi i = hψf |Ĥ1 |ψi i = hψf |Ĥ1 |ψi i ; T -matrix (4.76)

4.8 Transition Rate

We now calculate the transition rate directly, in the presence of the adia-
batic switching. The derivation is from [Gell-Mann and Goldberger (1953)],
in their classic paper on scattering theory. The only subtlety in the cal-
culation is identifying those expressions that are well-defined in the limit
ε → 0, and knowing when to take that limit. This takes a little experience.

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 Scattering Theory 87

The Schrödinger state vector at the finite time t for a system that started
as |ψi i at t → −∞ is
i i i (+)
|Ψi (t)i = e− ~ Ĥt |Ψi (0)i = e− ~ Ĥt Ûε (0, −∞)|ψi i = e− ~ Ĥt |ψi i (4.77)

The states that one observes experimentally in scattering, decays, etc. are
the free-particle states
i
|Φf (t)i = e− ~ Ef t |ψf i (4.78)

From the general principles of quantum mechanics, the probability of

finding the system in the state |Φf (t)i at the time t, if it started in |ψi i at
t → −∞, is then

Pf i (t) = |hΦf (t)|Ψi (t)i|2 ≡ |Mf i (t)|2 (4.79)

This is the probability of having made a transition to the state |Φf (t)i at
the time t. The transition rate is the time derivative of this quantity
d d
ωf i = Pf i (t) = Mf⋆i (t) Mf i (t) + c.c. (4.80)
dt dt
We will show that this transition rate is independent of time for times such
that |t| ≪ 1/ε. In the end, we will again let Ω → ∞, and ε → 0, where Ω
is the quantization volume. Let us proceed to calculate the transition rate.
From Eqs. (4.77)–(4.79) one has

Mf i (t) = hΦf (t)|Ψi (t)i

i i (+)
= hψf |e ~ Ef t e− ~ Ĥt |ψi i (4.81)

This relation may be differentiated with respect to time to give

d i i i (+)
Mf i (t) = − hψf |(Ĥ − Ef )e ~ Ef t e− ~ Ĥt |ψi i (4.82)
dt ~
The observation that (Ĥ − Ef )|ψf i = (Ĥ0 + Ĥ1 − Ef )|ψf i = Ĥ1 |ψf i gives

d i i i (+)
Mf i (t) = − e ~ Ef t hψf |Ĥ1 e− ~ Ĥt |ψi i (4.83)
dt ~
Now Eq. (4.58) states that in the above limit
(+)
(E0 − Ĥ)|ψi i=0 ; Ω→∞
ε→0 (4.84)

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88 Advanced Modern Physics

Use of this relation in Eqs. (4.83) and (4.81) then gives

d i i (+)
Mf i (t) = − e ~ (Ef −E0 )t hψf |Ĥ1 |ψi i
dt ~
i (+)
Mf i (t) = e ~ (Ef −E0 )t hψf |ψi i (4.85)

Substitution of these relations into Eq. (4.80) then expresses the tran-
sition rate as
2 (+) (+)
ωf i = Im hψf |Ĥ1 |ψi ihψf |ψi i⋆ (4.86)
~
This expression now has the following properties:

• It is independent of time;
• It is well-defined in the limit Ω → ∞, ε → 0.18

From our previous analysis in Eqs. (4.76) and (4.68), we have

(+)
hψf |Ĥ1 |ψi i = hψf |T̂ |ψi i = T̃f i
(+) 1 (+)
|ψi i = |ψi i + Ĥ1 |ψi i (4.87)
E0 − Ĥ0 + iε
The inner product of the second relation with |ψf i gives

(+) 1
hψf |ψi i = hψf |ψi i + T̃f i (4.88)
E0 − Ef + iε

Substitution of this relation and the first of Eqs. (4.87) into Eq. (4.86) then
gives
2 2 1
ωf i = δf i Im T̃ii + Im |T̃f i |2 (4.89)
~ ~ E0 − Ef − iε
Finally, we make use of the relation
1 1
=P + iπδ(E0 − Ef ) (4.90)
E0 − Ef − iε E0 − Ef
Here P denotes the Cauchy principal value, defined by deleting an infinites-
imal symmetric region of integration through the singularity, and then let-
ting the size of that region go to zero. Equation (4.90) is a statement on
18 Here we will simply justify this observation a posteriori, through the many applica-
tions of the final expression. Note that by taking this limit too early in the derivation,
one can arrive at spurious results [for example, try substituting the second of Eqs. (4.85)
into Eq. (4.79)].

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 Scattering Theory 89

contour integration; it is derived in Prob. B.4. With the use of this relation,
Eqs. (4.89) and (4.76) become

2 2π
ωf i = δf i Im T̃ii + δ(E0 − Ef )|T̃f i |2 ; transition rate
~ ~
Sf i = δf i − 2πiδ(E0 − Ef )T̃f i ; S-matrix (4.91)

These expressions are exact. They are the results quoted in Eqs. (4.46) and
used extensively in Vol. I.

4.9 Unitarity

The first term on the r.h.s. of ωf i in Eq. (4.91) only contributes if f = i;

it is there to take into account the depletion of the initial state. Return to
Eq. (4.79). With the completeness of the states |Φf (t)i, and the normal-
ization of the state |Ψi (t)i, a sum over all final states gives19
X X
Pf i (t) = hΨi (t)|Φf (t)ihΦf (t)|Ψi (t)i
f f
= hΨi (t)|Ψi (t)i = 1 (4.92)

This is the statement of conservation of probability—the initial state must

end up somewhere. The time derivative of this sum then vanishes

d X X d X
Pf i (t) = Pf i (t) = ωf i = 0 (4.93)
dt dt
f f f

Here the transition rate has been identified from Eq. (4.80). A substitution
of the expression for the transition rate in Eq. (4.91) into this relation then
gives

2 X 2π
− Im T̃ii = δ(Ef − E0 )|T̃f i |2 ; unitarity (4.94)
~ ~
f

This relation for the imaginary part of the elastic T -matrix, reflecting con-
servation of probability and depletion of the initial state, is known as uni-
tarity.
19 This sum now includes the state f = i; the reader should note that there is no sum
over the repeated index i implied in Eqs. (4.91) and (4.94).

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90 Advanced Modern Physics

4.10 Example: Potential Scattering

To see one practical application of the preceding scattering theory, con-

sider the elastic scattering of a non-relativistic particle of mass m from a
spherically symmetric potential Ĥ1 = V (|x̂|) in three dimensions. First we
calculate the Green’s function, or propagator.

4.10.1 Green’s Function (Propagator)

The Green’s function in this case is defined by the following matrix element
taken between eigenstates of position
1
G0 (x − y) = hx| |yi ; Green′ s function (4.95)
Ĥ0 − E0 − iε
Here
p̂2 ~2 k2
Ĥ0 = ; E0 ≡ (4.96)
2m 2m
As usual, we start in a big cubical box of volume Ω where the eigenstates
of momentum are plane waves satisfying periodic boundary conditions

p̂ |ti = ~t |ti
1
hx|ti = φt (x) = √ eit·x ; p.b.c. (4.97)
Ω
The eigenstates of momentum satisfy the completeness relation
X
|tiht| = 1̂ (4.98)
t

Insert this expression in Eq. (4.95), and use Eqs. (4.96) and (4.97)
2m X 1
G0 (x − y) = 2 hx|ti 2 ht|yi
~ t t − k 2 − iε
2m 1 X it·(x−y) 1
= 2 e (4.99)
~ Ω t t − k 2 − iε
2

We have redefined (2m/~2 )ε → ε in this expression.

Now take the limit as the volume Ω → ∞, in which case the sumR over
states becomes an integral, in the familiar fashion, t → Ω(2π)−3 d3 t.
P

In this limit
2m 1 1
Z
G0 (x − y) = 2 3
d3 t eit·(x−y) 2 (4.100)
~ (2π) t − k 2 − iε

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 Scattering Theory 91

It remains to do this integral. Take r ≡ x − y to define the z-axis. Then

t · (x − y) = tr cos θ and d3 t = t2 dt dφ sin θ dθ. The angular integrations
are then immediately performed
Z 2π Z π Z 1
itr cos θ sin tr
dφ sin θ dθ e = 2π dx eitrx = 4π (4.101)
0 0 −1 tr
We are left with
∞
2m 4π 1 1
Z
G0 (x − y) = 2 tdt sin tr (4.102)
~ (2π)3 r 0 t2 − k 2 − iε
Now write the integral as
Z ∞ ∞
1 itr
Z
tdt sin tr · · · = tdt (e − e−itr ) · · ·
0 0 2i
∞
1
Z
= tdt eitr · · · (4.103)
2i −∞

Here we have simple changed variables t → −t in the second term, and

combined it with the first (the rest of the integrand is a function of t2 ).
The required integral is then reduced to
Z ∞
2m 4π 1 itr 1
G0 (x − y) = 2 tdt e ; r ≡ x − y (4.104)
~ (2π)3 2ir −∞ t2 − k 2 − iε
where the integral now runs along the entire real t-axis. There is sufficient
convergence in the integrand that closing the contour with a semi-circle in
the upper-1/2 t-plane makes a vanishing contribution to the integral in the
limit as the radius R of that semi-circle becomes infinite.20 Thus the free
Green’s function has been reduced to a contour integral where the contour
C is that illustrated in Fig. 4.1.
The integral is then evaluated using the complex-variable techniques
summarized in appendix B. The integrand is an analytic function of t except
at the poles where the denominator vanishes. That denominator can be
rewritten as
1 1
= (4.105)
t2 2
− k − iε (t − k − iε)(t + k + iε)
where we have again redefined ε → 2kε (here k > 0), and neglected O(ε2 ).
The integrand thus has simple poles at t = k + iε and t = −k − iε, only the
first of which lies inside C.
20 See Prob. 4.4.

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92 Advanced Modern Physics

t - plane

R C
k+i

-k-i

Fig. 4.1 Contour for the evaluation of the Green’s function G0 (x − y) in the complex
t-plane, together with the singularity structure arrived at with adiabatic damping. Here
R → ∞.

The integral is then given by 2πi × (residue at k). Thus

 ikr 
2m 4π 1 e
G0 (x − y) = 2 2πi (4.106)
~ (2π)3 2ir 2
Hence we arrive at our final result for the free Green’s function in potential
scattering
2m eikr
G0 (x − y) = ; r≡x−y (4.107)
~2 4πr
This is recognized as the familiar Green’s function for the scalar Helmholtz
equation (see [Fetter and Walecka (2003)]).

4.10.2 Scattering Wave Function

(+)
The scattering state |ψi i can be similarly projected onto eigenstates of
position. With the use of the completeness relation for these eigenstates,
and the definition of the Green’s function in Eq. (4.95), one has21
1
Z
(+) (+)
hx|ψi i = hx|ψi i − d3 y hx| |yi V (y) hy|ψi i (4.108)
Ĥ0 − E0 − iε
(+) (+) √
With the definition hx|ψi i ≡ ψi (x)/ Ω, this becomes an integral equa-
tion for the scattering wave function
(+) 1 (+)
hx|ψi i ≡ √ ψi (x)
Ω
Z
(+) ik·x (+)
ψi (x) = e − d3 y G0 (x − y) V (y) ψi (y) (4.109)
21 We have used V (|x̂|) |yi = V (y) |yi where y ≡ |y|; note the sign of the second term.

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 Scattering Theory 93

4.10.3 T-matrix
The T -matrix can also be expressed in the coordinate representation as
Z
(+)
T̃f i = d3 y hkf |yi V (y) hy|ψi i (4.110)

where the final state is now written explicitly as an eigenstate of momentum

|ψf i ≡ |kf i. With the introduction of the corresponding wave functions,
one has
1
Z
(+)
T̃f i = d3 y e−ikf ·y V (y) ψi (y) (4.111)
Ω

4.10.4 Cross Section

The differential cross section follows from the transition rate according to
Eq. (4.45)
2π dnf
dσ = δ(Ef − E0 )|T̃f i |2 (4.112)
~ Iinc
In this expression:
√
(1) The incident wave function is ψi (x) = eik·x / Ω. This yields an inci-
dent probability flux of
1 ~k
Iinc = (4.113)
Ωm
(2) The number of final states in a big box with periodic boundary condi-
tions is
Ω 3 Ω 2
dnf = d kf = k dkf dΩf (4.114)
(2π)3 (2π)3 f
(3) The integral over the energy-conserving delta function gives
2m kf
Z
δ(Ef − E0 )kf2 dkf = 2 ; |kf | = |k| (4.115)
~ 2
(4) A combination of the results in Eqs. (4.112)–(4.115) gives
  
dσ 2π Ω mk Ωm
= 3 2
|T̃f i |2 (4.116)
dΩf ~ (2π) ~ ~k
The factors of Ω cancel, as they must, and the final result for the
differential cross section for elastic scattering of a particle of energy

ADVANCED MODERN PHYSICS - Theoretical Foundations

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94 Advanced Modern Physics

E0 = ~2 k 2 /2m from the potential V (|x|) takes the form

dσ
= |f (k, θ)|2
dΩf
1 2m
Z
(+)
f (k, θ) ≡ − 2
d3 y e−ikf ·y V (y) ψi (y) (4.117)
4π ~
The minus sign is conventional.
(+)
(5) The scattering wave function ψi (x) in this expression is the solution
to the integral equation
2m eik|x−y|
Z
(+) ik·x 3 (+)
ψi (x) = e − 2 d y V (y) ψi (y) (4.118)
~ 4π|x − y|

4.10.5 Unitarity
The scattering amplitude f (k, θ) and the T -matrix are related through
Eqs. (4.117) and (4.111), and thus
2 4π ~
− Im T̃ii = Im f (k, 0) (4.119)
~ Ω m
The unitarity relation in Eq. (4.94) states that
2 X 2π
− Im T̃ii = δ(Ef − E0 )|T̃f i |2 (4.120)
~ ~
f

Within a factor of the incident flux, the r.h.s. of this relation is just the
total cross section σtot . Thus Eq. (4.120) can be rewritten as
2 1 ~k
− Im T̃ii = Iinc σtot = σtot (4.121)
~ Ωm
A comparison of Eqs. (4.119) and (4.121) then leads to the optical theorem
relating the imaginary part of the forward elastic scattering amplitude and
the total cross section22
k
Im f (k, 0) = σtot ; optical theorem (4.122)
4π
The analysis of potential scattering in this section provides the under-
lying basis for the study of scattering in quantum mechanics, as presented,
for example, in [Schiff (1968)].23
22 So far, there is only elastic scattering in this potential model, but the optical theorem
is more general and holds in the presence of additional inelastic processes.
23 Problems 1.1–1.5 in [Walecka (2004)] take the reader through the essentials of the

partial-wave analysis of the scattering problem.

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