- #1
WWCY
- 479
- 12
I have a few issues with understanding a section of Griffiths QM regarding Hermitian Operators and would greatly appreciate some help.
It was first stated that,
##\langle Q \rangle = \int \Psi ^* \hat{Q} \Psi dx = \langle \Psi | \hat{Q} \Psi \rangle##
and because expectation values are real,
##\langle Q \rangle = \langle Q \rangle ^*##
By invoking ##\langle f|g \rangle = \langle g|f \rangle ^*## (1)
##\langle \Psi | \hat{Q} \Psi \rangle = \langle \Psi | \hat{Q} \Psi \rangle ^* = \langle \hat{Q} \Psi| \Psi \rangle ##.
Which I so far, seem to understand. But then it was stated that,
##\langle f| \hat{Q}g \rangle = \langle \hat{Q}f|g \rangle## was the condition for a Hermitian operator.
Up till now my understanding (which seems plainly wrong) was as follows,
##\langle f | \hat{Q} g\rangle = \langle f | \hat{Q} g\rangle ^* = \langle \hat{Q}g|f \rangle ##
where step 2 to 3 involved the flipping of functions as seen in (1).
Could anyone explain how it's supposed to work? Assistance is greatly appreciated!
P.S. It would be nice if explanations could be kept simple, I have not worked up till all things "eigen" (next section of book) as of yet. Thanks!
It was first stated that,
##\langle Q \rangle = \int \Psi ^* \hat{Q} \Psi dx = \langle \Psi | \hat{Q} \Psi \rangle##
and because expectation values are real,
##\langle Q \rangle = \langle Q \rangle ^*##
By invoking ##\langle f|g \rangle = \langle g|f \rangle ^*## (1)
##\langle \Psi | \hat{Q} \Psi \rangle = \langle \Psi | \hat{Q} \Psi \rangle ^* = \langle \hat{Q} \Psi| \Psi \rangle ##.
Which I so far, seem to understand. But then it was stated that,
##\langle f| \hat{Q}g \rangle = \langle \hat{Q}f|g \rangle## was the condition for a Hermitian operator.
Up till now my understanding (which seems plainly wrong) was as follows,
##\langle f | \hat{Q} g\rangle = \langle f | \hat{Q} g\rangle ^* = \langle \hat{Q}g|f \rangle ##
where step 2 to 3 involved the flipping of functions as seen in (1).
Could anyone explain how it's supposed to work? Assistance is greatly appreciated!
P.S. It would be nice if explanations could be kept simple, I have not worked up till all things "eigen" (next section of book) as of yet. Thanks!