Help Proving the Momentum Shift Operator

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TL;DR
I need help proving given
I am stuck on proving:
##\langle p_x \rangle \rightarrow \langle p_x \rangle + p_0## given ##\langle x \mid \psi \rangle \;\rightarrow\; e^{i p_0 x / \hbar}\,\langle x \mid \psi \rangle##
I was able to prove given the change in wave function mentioned above: ##\langle x \rangle \rightarrow\; \langle x \rangle## by using
$$ \langle x \rangle = \int dx \, \langle \psi | x \rangle x \langle x | \psi \rangle $$ and plugging in the modified wave function and the complex conjugate of the modified wave function.

The textbook, A Modern Approach to Quantum Mechanics, 2nd edition by John S. Townsend, gives me these equations:

$$
\langle p_x \rangle = \langle \psi | \hat{p}_x | \psi \rangle = \int dx' \, \langle \psi | x' \rangle \frac{\hbar}{i} \frac{\partial}{\partial x'} \langle x' | \psi \rangle

= \int dx' \, \psi^*(x') \frac{\hbar}{i} \frac{\partial}{\partial x'} \psi(x') = \int dx \, \psi^*(x) \frac{\hbar}{i} \frac{\partial}{\partial x} \psi(x)
$$
I tried taking the deriative of ##e^{i p_0 x / \hbar}## to get the ##p_0## term, but that changes the ##\langle p_x \rangle## equation. Am I looking at the right equations or was I going in the right direction? Is there any hint you could give for this problem? Thank you any help on this problem.
 
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Danielk010 said:
Is there any hint you could give for this problem? Thank you any help on this problem.
Under the transformation ##\psi\left(x\right)\rightarrow e^{ip_{0}x/\hbar}\,\psi\left(x\right)## we have:$$\left\langle p_{x}\right\rangle \equiv\int dx\,\psi^{*}\left(x\right)\frac{\hbar}{i}\frac{d}{dx}\psi\left(x\right)\rightarrow\int dx\,\left[e^{-ip_{0}x/\hbar}\,\psi^{*}\left(x\right)\right]\frac{\hbar}{i}\frac{d}{dx}\left[e^{ip_{0}x/\hbar}\,\psi\left(x\right)\right]=\,?$$Can you "turn the crank" from here to finish the derivation?
 
Last edited:
renormalize said:
Under the transformation ##\psi\left(x\right)\rightarrow e^{ip_{0}x/\hbar}\,\psi\left(x\right)## we have:$$\left\langle p_{x}\right\rangle \equiv\int dx\,\psi^{*}\left(x\right)\frac{\hbar}{i}\frac{d}{dx}\psi\left(x\right)\rightarrow\int dx\,\left[e^{-ip_{0}x/\hbar}\,\psi^{*}\left(x\right)\right]\frac{\hbar}{i}\frac{d}{dx}\left[e^{ip_{0}x/\hbar}\,\psi\left(x\right)\right]=\,?$$Can you "turn the crank" from here to finish the derivation?

From the rightmost part of the equation,
$$\int dx \, \psi^*(x) \frac{\hbar}{i} \frac{\partial}{\partial x} \psi(x) (e^{{-i p_0 x / \hbar} + {i p_0 x / \hbar}})$$
which should make ## \langle p \rangle ## = ## \langle p \rangle ##, not ## \langle p \rangle ## = ## \langle p \rangle + p_0 ##. Did I make a mistake in my calculation? Is this what you meant by "turn the crank"? Am I missing some mathematic trick? There is probably something wrong with my calculation given the problem statement. Thank you for the help.
 
Danielk010 said:
Did I make a mistake in my calculation?
Yes you did. You should have:$$\frac{\hbar}{i}\frac{d}{dx}\left[e^{ip_{0}x/\hbar}\,\psi\left(x\right)\right]=e^{ip_{0}x/\hbar}\left[p_{0}\psi\left(x\right)+\frac{\hbar}{i}\frac{d}{dx}\psi\left(x\right)\right]$$Do you understand how to apply the product rule for differentiation and how to take the derivative of an exponential function?
 

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