Cent. Eur. J. Phys.

6(4) 2008 891-894

DOI: 10.2478/s11534-008-0105-2

Central European Journal of Physics

A concise quantum mechanical treatment of the

forced damped harmonic oscillator
Research Article

Ti Jun Li
Department of Physics, Heze University, Shandong 274015, PR China

Received 29 December 2007; accepted 13 June 2008

Abstract:

By selecting a right generalized coordinate X , which contains the general solutions of the classical motion
equation of a forced damped harmonic oscillator, we obtain a simple Hamiltonian which does not contain
time for the oscillator such that the Schrdinger equation and its solutions can be directly written out in X
representation. The wave functions in x representation are also given with the help of the eigenfunctions
in x representation. The evolution of h
of the operator X
x i is the same as in the classical mechanics, and
the uncertainty in position is independent of an external influence; one part of energy mean is quantized
and attenuated, and the other is equal to the classical energy.

PACS (2008): 03.65.-w, 03.65.Ge

Keywords:

wave function forced damped oscillator generalized coordinate eigenfunction of generalized coordinate
operator representation
Versita Warsaw and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

1.

Introduction

The quantum model for a damped harmonic oscillator is

applied in many fields, for example, in quantum theory
of fields, quantum optics, solid theory and the quantum
theory of mesoscopic circuits. Several techniques, such as
the invariant operator method, the propagator method, the
unitary transformation method and so on, are used for the
dissipative systems [17].
In this paper, a very simple method is introduced for studying the system. First we get a standard Hamiltonian for
the system by selecting a right generalized coordinate
X , and write out the Schrdinger equation and the cor

E-mail: tijunli@yahoo.com.cn

responding wave functions n (X , t) in X representation.

Afterwards we give the wave functions n (x, t) with the
in x reprehelp of the eigenfunctions of the operator X
and the
sentation. Finally the expectation value h
x i, hEi,
uncertainty in position are discussed.

2.

The Hamiltonian

We start from the equation of motion for a damped driven

harmonic oscillator:
m
x + c
x + kx = f(t),

(1)

where m, c, k, and f(t) are the mass of the harmonic oscillator, damping constant, elasticity coefficient, and timedependent driving force, respectively.
891

A concise quantum mechanical treatment of the forced damped harmonic oscillator

Since we only deal with underdamped oscillators (c2 <

4mk), the classical solution corresponding to Eq. (1) is

x=

where

listed here:





Z th
i
 c 

1
ct
f() exp(i) d + 2m
exp
<e i exp(it)
h z(0) exp(it) x,
exp
m
2m
2m
0

c2
k = k
,
4m
r
k
0 =
,
m
s
r
k
c2
= 02
,
=
m
4m2

The corresponding Schrdinger equation is

(3)

i
h (X , t) =
t

ct
2m

(X , t),

(11)

and its solutions are





2X 2
iEn t
n (X , t) = Nn Hn ( X ) exp
exp
,
2
h

(12)
where
r
m
=
,
(13)
h

(6)



En =

n+

the Lagrangian corresponding to Eq. (1) is

r
1 2 1 2
L = mX
kX ,
2
2

(5)


(x x),

2 2
h
1 2

+ kX
2m X 2
2

(4)

z(0) is a complex number.

In order to give a simple Hamiltonian, we select the generalized coordinate:
X = exp

(2)

Nn =
(7)

3.2.

,
2n n !

1
2

h,

n = 0, 1, 2, .

(14)

(15)

Wave functions in x representation

so the generalized momentum is

L
,
= mX
P=

(8)

In order to obtain the wave functions n (x, t) in x repre in x representation, the eigenvectors of the operator X
sentation need to be given. Therefore we suppose that the
is
eigen equation of X

the Hamiltonian is introduced:

)
H = (L + P X
(X P)

3.

P2
1 2
=
+ kX
.
2m 2

|X 0 i = X 0 |X 0 i,
X

with eigenvalue
where |X 0 i stands for the eigenvector of X
0
X . According to Eq. (6) we have

Wave functions

3.1.

= exp
X

Wave functions in X representation

In X representation, by making the replacement: P

= i
= X , the Hamiltonian operator H

P
h X
,X X
corresponding to Eq. (9) is obtained:
h 2 2
1 2
=
H
+ kX
.
2m X 2
2
892

(16)

(9)

(10)

ct
2m


(
x x),

(17)

where x is the coordinate operator. Substituting Eq. (17)

into (16), we have
x|X 0 i =



ct
x + X 0 exp
|X 0 i.
2m

(18)

Ti Jun Li

In all appearance |X 0 i is also the eigenvector of the op

ct
erator x with eigenvalue x + X 0 exp 2m
. Hence, in x
is
representation the eigenfunction of operator X

 


ct
X0
,
hx|X i = A x x + exp
2m
0

(19)

so

hX |X 0 i = X X 0

and

|X ihX | dX = 1.
(21)

and by normalizing we get



ct
hx|X i = exp
4m
0

ct
x x + exp
2m


X


,
(20)

Supposing n (x, t) denotes the wave functions of a forced

damped oscillator in x representation,


 


 
Z +
ct
ct
x x + exp
X0
n (X 0 , t)dX 0
hx|X 0 ihX 0 |n idX 0 =
exp
2m
2m









 
2
iEn t
ct
ct
ct
exp (x x )2 exp
exp
exp
.
(22)
= Nn Hn (x x ) exp
2m
2
m
h

4m
Z

n (x, t) = hx|n i =

4.

Discussions and conclusions

Using the wave functions n we calculate the expectation

value and the uncertainty in position as follows:
Z
h
xi =

n (x, t)xn (x, t)dx = x,


n+

1
2




h
ct
.
exp
m
m

We may also calculate the expectation value of energy.

According to Eq. (17) the time derivative of the operator
x is

(23)

and
x 2 = h(
x h
x i)2 i =

the uncertainty in position is independent of f(t), but it has

relation to m, k, and c, and reduces according to exponent
as time goes on.

(24)

It can be seen from Eq. (23) and (24) that the expectation
value hxi is independent of quantum number n; as time
goes on its evolution is the same as the classical value;

1 h i
x
=
x
x, H +
i
h
t





P
ct
c
ct
.
= exp

X exp
+ x
m
2m
2m
2m

(25)

i = 0, hX
2 i = n + 1 h , hPi
= 0,
In the states n , hX
2 m


2 i = n + 1 m
Pi
= ih , hP
X
i = ih . Hence
hP
h
,
h
X
2
2
2
the expectation value of energy is







1 2
1
1 2
c
1
c2
2 i exp ct
mhx i + kh
x2i =
hP i
hP X + X Pi +
k+
hX
2
2
2m
4m
2
4m
m






1
ct
1
1
+ k
i exp
hPi
hX
2 + k
+ x
x c x
+ mx
x2
2
2m
2
2




1
2
ct
1 2 1 2
+ k
= n+
h 0 exp

+ mx
x = Equantum + Eclassical ,
2

m
2
2

=
hEi

where Equantum =

n+

1
2

02

exp ct
, Eclassical =
m

1 2
mx
2

(26)

+ 21 k
x 2 . This shows that the expectation value of
893

A concise quantum mechanical treatment of the forced damped harmonic oscillator

energy consists of two parts: the first Equantum is quantized and attenuated; the second Eclassical is equal to the
classical energy of a forced damped harmonic oscillator.
In summary, by selecting a right generalized coordinate
X we obtain a quite simple Hamiltonian that does not
contain time for a forced damped harmonic oscillator and
the corresponding wave functions n are written out very
easily. We can also know quantum characters and the
relations between the classical and quantum mechanics.
Therefore the quantum mechanical treatment of dissipative
systems is very laconic and useful.

894

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