Acceleration. Infinite potential well.

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the concept of acceleration in quantum mechanics, specifically in the context of a particle confined in an infinite potential well. Participants explore the implications of the potential well's characteristics on the particle's behavior, addressing both classical and quantum mechanical perspectives.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant questions why a particle in an infinite potential well cannot accelerate, suggesting a relationship between the well's dimension and acceleration.
  • Another participant explains that in the infinite square well, the potential is constant (zero) inside, leading to zero force and thus zero acceleration, except at the walls.
  • It is noted that discussing acceleration requires a well-defined trajectory, which is not present in standard quantum mechanics, except in certain interpretations like the Bohmian interpretation.
  • A participant raises concerns about the implications of acceleration in systems with discrete energy states, arguing that it would necessitate continuous energy changes, which is not consistent with quantum mechanics.
  • One participant defines the average momentum in the potential well as zero, questioning why the particle does not lose energy upon contact with the walls.
  • Another participant responds that the walls are very strong, implying that they do not allow for energy loss, and acknowledges that mean values can behave like classical quantities.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the nature of acceleration in quantum mechanics and its implications for particles in potential wells. There is no consensus on the interpretation of acceleration or energy loss in this context.

Contextual Notes

The discussion highlights limitations in defining classical concepts like acceleration within quantum mechanics, particularly regarding the assumptions about trajectories and energy states.

LagrangeEuler
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Why we don't have acceleration in quantum mechanics. For example why particle in infinite potential well can not accelerate. For example dimension of well is ##L## and ##L=\frac{at^2}{2}##, where ##a## is acceleration.
 
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LagrangeEuler said:
For example dimension of well is ##L## and ##L=\frac{at^2}{2}##, where ##a## is acceleration.

What's your reasoning here? In the usual infinite square well, the potential is constant (zero) inside the well. Classically, the force on the particle would be zero everywhere except at the walls, like a molecule in an ideal gas. The particle's acceleration would also be zero at all times except when it's colliding with one of the walls.

More important, in order to talk about the acceleration of a particle, it has to have a trajectory: a well-defined position as a function of t. In QM we don't have that, except in the Bohmian interpretation where the trajectories are highly non-classical anyway.
 
Additionally, it would be weird to talk about acceleration for any system which has discrete energy states... acceleration would mean that the particle would gain/lose energy in some continuous amounts, and that would need it to change its energy respectively...
In the same way someone would say that the electron accelerating inside the atom, would have to radiate its energy and "fall" into the nucleus...

Of course I believe fundamentally the reason is what jtbell stated in #2
 
Well I define in potential well that ##\langle p \rangle=0##. Could I interprete this like particle goes from left to right as much as it goes from right to left in the well. So I can say that impulse in one direction is ##p##, and in the other is ##-p## so ##\langle p \rangle=0##. Why the particle does not loose some energy in contact with the walls.
 
because the walls are very strong...
If you had a finite well potential, there would be penetration/transition...

Yes you can, interpret it like that. But that's only because the mean values behave like classical quantities...
 

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