Time dependence in Quantum Mechanics

In Quantum Mechanics, the time-dependent state of a system is described

by a normalized vector |(t), that satises the time-dependent Schr odinger
equation
i h
d
dt
|(t) = H(t) |(t) , (1)
where, in general, the Hamiltonian may be time-dependent. (This is for
instance the case if a charged particle experiences a time-dependent external
force.) The conjugate state vector (bra) satises
i h
d
dt
(t)| = (t)| H(t), (2)
A large part of most Quantum Mechanics courses is devoted to situations
where the Hamiltonian is time-independent, i.e. H(t) = H. Let us therefore
briey recall how (1) is solved in this case. The rst step is to nd the
normalized time-independent eigenstates of H:
E
n
|
n
= H |
n
. (3)
They form a complete orthonormal set so that any system state can be
written as a linear combination of eigenstates of H. It is also trivial to
construct specic solutions of (1) from the eigenstates, namely
|
n
(t) = e
iE
n
t/h
|
n
. (4)
If the system starts out in |
n
(0) = |
n
, then its evolution for all times is
described by |
n
(t). The average outcome of the measurement at time t of
an observable Q is

n
(t)| Q|
n
(t) = e
iE
n
t/h
e
iE
n
t/h

n
| Q|
n

=
n
| Q|
n
, (5)
independent of time. Of course, the most general solution to (1) is a linear
combination of specic solutions
|(t) =

n
c
n
e
iE
n
t/h
|
n
, (6)
where the expansion coecients c
n
are determined by the initial state of the
system.
In general, the expectation value
Q(t) (t)| Q|(t) , (7)
1
of an observable Q is time-dependent: From (1) and (2) follows that
d
dt
Q(t) =
i
h
(t)| [Q, H(t)] |(t) . (8)
If Q does not commute with the Hamiltonian, then in general Q(t) is not
conserved.
Example
Find the time-dependence of S(t) for a spin S in a constant magnetic eld
B.
We choose the z axis to be in the direction of B. The Hamiltonian reads
H = B S = BS
z
. (9)
The spin operators obey the usual commutation relations,
[S
x
, S
y
] = iS
z
, [S
y
, S
z
] = iS
x
, [S
z
, S
x
] = iS
y
. (10)
Substituted into (8), this yields
d
dt
S
x
(t) = BS
y
,
d
dt
S
y
(t) = BS
x
,
d
dt
S
z
(t) = 0. (11)
The solution is a vector
S(t) = S

[cos(t + ) x + sin(t + ) y] + S

z, (12)
that precesses around the z-axis with an angular frequency B.
Time-dependent Hamiltonians
As an example of a system with a time dependent Hamiltonian, we consider
a spin-1/2 in a precessing magnetic eld
B(t) = b [cos(t) x cos(t) x] + B z (13)
For a spin-1/2, the spin operator S can be expressed in terms of the standard
Pauli matrices

x
=

0 1
1 0

,
y
=

0 i
i 0

,
z
=

1 0
0 1

, (14)
2
as S = h(
x
x +
y
x +
z
z)/2. The Hamiltonian is
H(t) = B(t) S =
h
2

B be
it
be
it
B

. (15)
Although we will solve the problem exactly and in general, we will be
particularly interested in the situation where B b, i.e. where the time-
dependent part of H(t) is a small perturbation to the time-independent part
H
0
=
hB
2

z
=
hB
2

1 0
0 1

, (16)
We will answer the following question: suppose the system starts out in the
ground state

0
=

1
0

, (17)
of the unperturbed system H
0
at time t = 0, what is the probability to nd
the system in the excited state

1
=

0
1

, (18)
at a later time t? The dierence in energy between these two states is E =
hB, and this energy must be supplied by the time-dependent part of the
Hamiltonian if the transition is to occur.
Our task is to solve the time-dependent Schrodinger equation i hd/dt =
H(t)(t) with the initial condition (0) =
0
. This is most conveniently
done by transforming to two functions u(t) and v(t), dened through
(t) =

u(t)e
it/2
v(t)e
it/2

. (19)
Substitution into the time-dependent Schrodinger equation leads to a dier-
ential equation for u(t) and v(t), namely
d
dt

u(t)
v(t)

=
i
2
Q

u(t)
v(t)

where Q =

B b
b B

. (20)
We note that Q
2
=
2
I where
=

(B )
2
+ (b)
2
. (21)
It is straight-forward to check that the general solution to (20) is

u(t)
v(t)

I cos(t/2) + i
Q

sin(t/2)

u(0)
v(0)

. (22)
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Figure 1: Left: Probability P(t) to nd the system in the excited state.
Right: Maximum of P(t) as a function of .
Proof: Consider the time-derivative of the operator on the right-hand side,
keeping in mind that I = Q
2
/:
d
dt

I cos(t/2) + i
Q

sin(t/2)

i
Q
2
cos(t/2)
I
2
sin(t/2)

=
i
2
Q

cos(t/2) + i
Q

sin(t/2)

. (23)
The initial condition (t) =
0
corresponds to u(0) = 1 and v(0) = 0, so
that
u(t) = cos(t/2) + i
B

sin(t/2), (24)
v(t) = i
b

sin(t/2). (25)
The probability P(t) to nd the system in the excited state
1
at time t
equals
P(t) = |v(t)|
2
=
(b)
2
(B )
2
+ (b)
2
sin
2
(t/2). (26)
It oscillates with a frequency /2 between 0 and a maximum value
P

=
(b)
2
(B )
2
+ (b)
2
. (27)
These oscillations are known as Rabi oscillations. As a function of , P

has a maximum value of 1, when = B, i.e. when h equals the energy

dierence E = hB between the unperturbed ground state and the excited
4
state. If the time-dependent perturbation is small (b B), P as a function
of is sharply peaked around this value. These features are generic: A
transition between states
n
and
m
of a general quantum system requires
a time-dependent perturbation with a frequency close to (E
m
E
n
)/h. It
is interesting to note that stimulating a system at the right frequency not
only causes stimulated absorption of energy (time intervals where P(t) is
an increasing function of time), but also stimulated emission (time intervals
where P(t) decreases as a function of time).
The expectation value of the z-component of spin is given by
S
z
= (t)| S
z
|(t) =
h
2
(|u(t)|
2
|v(t)|
2
)
=
h
2
(1 2|v(t)|
2
), (28)
where the last line follows from the fact that |u|
2
+ |v|
2
= 1. In contrast
to the example of a constant magnetic eld, here we see that the average z-
component of the spin oscillates between h/2 and (12P

) h/2 at a frequency
/2. When the time-dependent perturbation is small (b B) and B,
the oscillation is all the way from h/2 to h/2, at an angular frequency
= b that is much lower than the spin precession frequency B.
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