English

Bound state eigenfunctions need to vanish faster than $|x|^{-3/2}$

Quantum Physics 2016-06-22 v2

Abstract

In quantum mechanics students are taught to practice that eigenfunction of a physical bound state must be continuous and vanishing asymptotically so that it is normalizable in x(,)x\in (-\infty, \infty). Here we caution that such states may also give rise to infinite uncertainty in position (Δx=)(\Delta x=\infty), whereas Δp\Delta p remains finite. Such states may be called loosely bound and spatially extended states that may be avoided by an additional condition that the eigenfunction vanishes asymptotically faster than x3/2|x|^{-3/2}.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1605.05902,
  title  = {Bound state eigenfunctions need to vanish faster than $|x|^{-3/2}$},
  author = {Zafar Ahmed},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1605.05902},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

One Fig. (3 parts), 6 pages, Text around Eq. (13,14) modified

R2 v1 2026-06-22T14:04:31.595Z