Question: In this problem you will show that the number of nodes of the stationary states of a one-dimensional potential always increases with energy. Consider two

In this problem you will show that the number of nodes of the stationary states of a one-dimensional potential always increases with energy. Consider two (real, normalized) solutions (Ψn and Ψm) to the time-independent Schrödinger equation (for a given potential V (x) ), with energies En m.

(a) Show that

d & (dve v. - v. dite ) = ( Vm dx

(b) Let x1 and x2 be two adjacent nodes of the function Ψm (x). Show that

dx dx 2m 24 (En Em) VmVn.

(c) If Ψn (x) has no nodes between and , then it must have the same sign everywhere in the interval. Show that (b) then leads to a contradiction. Therefore, between every pair of nodes of Ψm (x), Ψn (x) must have at least one node, and in particular the number of nodes increases with energy.

d & (dve v. - v. dite ) = ( Vm dx dx dx 2m 24 (En Em) VmVn.

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