Introduction to Greens

Functions
Elvis F. Arguelles
Physics Department, DLSU
Greens Functions Definition
Greens Functions are often defined as a solution
to inhomogeneous Sturm Liouville differential
equation of the form:

Where satisfies (1) and obeys the boundary
condition at the interval , and is
any linear, Hermitian operator.
We define a function that satisfies the differential
equation:


) ( ) (

x f x L = |
(1)
) (x |
L

b x a s s
( ) x x x x G L
'
=
'
o ) , (
(2)
Greens Function Intro
If we can determine the function , we can
immediately write the solution/s to (1) as


We call the Greens Function.
It is straightforward to see that (3) satisfies (1) by
substituting it in (1)


}
' ' '
= x d x f x x G x ) ( ) , ( ) ( |
) , ( x x G
'
(3)
}
' ' '
= = x d x f x x G L x f x L ) ( ) , (

) ( ) (

|
) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( x f x d x f x x x f
'
=
' ' '
=
}
o
) , ( x x G
'
Example: Electric Potential
An example of the use of GF is in solving the
electrostatic potential given by the Poisson
equation:

Equation (4) is in the same form as (1) with
and
We can immediately define our GF by:

And our potential is given by (3):
0
2
) (
) (
c
x
x = u V
(4)
2

V L
) ( ) ( x x f
) ( ) , (
2
x x x x G
'
=
'
V o
x d
x
x x G x
'
'
'
= u
}
3
0
) (
) , ( ) (
c

(5)
Example: Electric Potential
To prove (5), we recall Greens theorem. We define two
functions A and B:

Then we use Divergence theorem:

We substitute A in (6) and we have


Using vector identity, we can express the LHS of (7) as
( ) x d A da n A
V s
3

} }
V =

V = A

( ) ( ) x d da n
V S
} }
V V = V
3


( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( ) ( )
} } }
} } }
V V + V = V V
V V + V V = V V
V V V
V V V
x d x d x d
x d x d x d
3 3 2 3
3 3 3


(6)
V = B

(7)
Example: Electric Potential
Equation (7) now takes the form


We do the same thing with B we have:


With

We subtract (9) from (8)



This is Greens theorem. Take note that the last terms of (8)
and (9) cancel out each other
n
n
c
+ c
= + V
( ) ( )
} } }
V V + V =
|
.
|

\
|
c
c
V V S
x d x d da
n
3 3 2

( ) x d da
n n
v s
3 2 2
} }
V V =
|
.
|

\
|
c
c

c
c

(8)
(9)
( ) ( )
} } }
V V + V =
|
.
|

\
|
c
c
V V S
x d x d da
n
3 3 2

(10)
Example: Electric Potential
From Greens theorem (10), we replace with


In (11), if we make the volume V which the surface S encloses,
the integral on the LHS of (11) vanishes for large V as S explodes.



From the definition of the GF,

( ) x d G G x d
n
G
n
G
v v
3 2 2 3
} }
V V =
|
.
|

\
|
c
c

c
c

(11)
(12)
G
( )
( ) ( )
} }
}
V = V
= V V
v v
v
x d G x d G
x d G G
3 2 3 2
3 2 2
0


( ) ( )
( )
}
} }
V =
V =
'

v
v v
x d G
x d G x d x x
3 2
3 2 3

o
(13)
Example: Electric Potential
If we take
Eq. (12) becomes


Which consequently proves (5). Our next problem
then is find an expression for our GF. From vector
analysis, we have

We manipulate (14) a bit more we have

Its easy to see that


) (x u
(13)
(14)
(15)
( ) x d
x
x x G x d G
v v
'
'
'
= u V = u =
} }
3
0
3 2
) (
) , (
c

) ( 4
1
2
x x
x x
'
=
|
|
.
|

\
|
'

V


to
) (
4
1
2
x x
x x
' =
|
|
.
|

\
|
'
V


o
t
x x
x x G
'
= '


t 4
1
) , (
Example: Electric Potential
The electric potential now takes the familiar form




(16)
x d
x x
x
x
x d
x
x x G x
v
v
'
'

'
= u
'
'
'
= u
}
}
3
0
3
0
4
) (
) (
) (
) , ( ) (

tc

Greens Function in Quantum

Mechanics
GF can also be considered as solution to
inhomogeneous differential equation


Here, we have



is the usual time independent, Hermitian, linear
differential operator with complete set of
eigenfunctions.
| | ) ( ) ; , ( ) (

x x z x x G x L z
'
=
'

o
17
{ }
{ } z s
z
is z
Im
Re

+ =

) (

x L

GF in QM
We can express the operator using the eigenvalue
equation

The set satisfy the BC as the GF and
considered orthonormal


With the assumption that the set is complete we can
expand the delta function using infinite series
) ( ) ( ) (

x x x L
n n n

| | =
nm n m
x d x x o | | =
}
-

) ( ) (
{ } ) (x
n

|

=
'

n
n n
x a x x ) ( ) (

| o
18
19
20
GF in QM
We multiply both sides by and integrate over
x we get



And the Dirac delta function can now be written as

In Dirac notation,
) ( ) ( ) (
*
x x x x
n
n
n

| | o

'
=
'

) (x
m
'
-

|
nm
n
n m
n
n m n m
a x
x d x x a x d x x x
o |
| | | o

} }
=
'
' '
=
' ' '

-
- -
) (
) ( ) ( ) ( ) (

21
x z G x z x x G
x L x x L x x
'
=
'
'
=
'

) ( ) ; , (

) (

) ( o
22
23
GF in QM
With

In this notation we can write




) (
1
x x x x
dx x x
'
=
'
=
}


o
( ) 1 ) (
1
=
=
=
=

z G L z
L
n
n n
nm m n
n n n
| |
o | |
| |
24
25
26
27
28
29
We take the matrix elements of (29) we have


And therefore










We as we can see, is just similar to (17)




( )
( ) ) ( ) (
1 ) (
x x x z G L z x
x x x x x z G L z x
'
=
'

'
=
'
=
'

o
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
| |
| | ) ( ) ; , ( ) (
) ; , ( ) ( ) ; , ( ) ( ) ; , (
) ( ) ; , ( ) ( ) ; , ( ) (
) ; , ( ) ( ) ( ) ; , ( ) (
) ( ) ; , ( ) (
) ( ) ; , ( ) (
) ( ) ; , ( ) (
) ( ) ( ) (
x x z x x G x L z
z x x G x L z z x x G x L z x x zG
x x z x x G x L z x x zG x z G L z x
z x x G x x x L x d z x x zG x z G L z x
x z G x x L x x d z x x zG x z G L z x
x z LG x x x x d z x x zG x z G L z x
x z LG x z x x zG x z G L z x
x z LG x x z G x z x z G L z x
'
=
'

'
=
'

'
'
=
'

'
=
'

' ' ' ' '

' '

'
=
'

' ' ' ' ' ' '

'
=
'

' ' ' ' ' ' '

'
=
'

'

'
=
'

'

'
=
'

}
}
}








o
o
o
If the eigenvalues of exist,
We can write (29) as


We multiply (30) by (28) we have




We recall that
Therefore

L z
n
z =
L z
z G

=
1
) ( 30
n n
n
n
n n
n
n
n
n
z
z G
L z L z
z G
| |

| | | |

=
1
) (
1 1
) (
}

+
'
= dn
n n
n
n n
n
n
z
dn
z
z G | |

| |

+

=
}

1 1
) (
'
31
32
33
In the representation we have


From (34), we can immediately see that has simple
poles at the position of the discrete eigenvalues of .
If , where belongs to the continuous eigenvalues of
, is not well defined since the integrand in (34)
has a pole.
We can however define by a limiting procedure.



x

L z
z G

=
1
) (
34
n
n n
n
n
n n
z
x x
dn
z
x x
z x x G

| |

| |

'
+

'
=
'
}

) ( ) ( ) ( ) (
) ; , (
* *
'


) (z G
L
= z

L
) ; , ( z x x G
'

) ; , ( z x x G
'

) ; , ( lim ) ; , (
) ; , ( lim ) ; , (
0
0
is x x G x x G
is x x G x x G
s
s

'
=
'
+
'
=
'

+




From (34) we can also see that

We use the identity


We have
) ; , ( ) ; , (
* *
z x x G z x x G

'
=
'
) (
1 1
lim
0
u i
u
P
iv u
v
to =

) (
) ( ) (
) (
) ( ) (
2
) (
) ( ) (
2
) (
) ( ) ( ) ( ) (
) (
) ( ) ( ) ( ) (
) ; , (
~
) ( ) (
lim
) ( ) (
lim ) ; , (
~
) ; , ( lim ) ; , ( lim ) ; , (
~
) ( ) ( ) (
~
* *
'
*
* *
* *
*
0
*
0
0 0
n
n
n n
n
n
n
n n
n
n
n
n n
n
n
n
n n
n
n
n n
n
n
n
n n
n
n
n n
n
n
n n
s
n
n
n n
s
s s
x x
dn
x x
i
x x
i
x x
i
x x
P
x x
i
x x
P x x G
is
x x
is
x x
x x G
is x x G is x x G x x G
G G G
o

| |
o

| |
t
o

| |
t
o

| |
t

| |
o

| |
t

| |

| |

| |

= '

+
= '
' + ' = '
=
}