Is it possible to re-write this expression?

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The discussion revolves around the challenge of rewriting the expression ψ ∂ψ*/∂x in the form ∂/∂x(Some function) for a PhD research model. The user draws a parallel to a simpler expression involving real numbers but struggles due to the complexity of dealing with a complex number, ψ. Responses indicate that while it's possible to manipulate the expression, it may only yield results for the real part of ψ. The suggestion includes expressing ψ in polar form, which leads to a more complex derivative involving both the magnitude and phase of ψ. Overall, the task appears to be quite challenging due to the nature of complex variables.
Xyius
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Hello everyone,

I am trying to develop a model for my PhD research, I don't want to get into specifics too much, but I have encountered the following problem.

I need to write
\psi \frac{\partial \psi^*}{\partial x}

in the following form

\frac{\partial}{\partial x}(\text{Some function})

This is very similar to the following,

x \frac{dx}{dt}=\frac{d}{dx}\left( \frac{1}{2}x^2 \right)

However the fact that ##\psi## is a complex number is making this difficult for me. Does anyone have any ideas??

Thanks!
 
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This doesn't seem likely - ## \frac{\partial }{\partial x}(\psi\bar\psi)=\psi\frac{\partial\bar\psi }{\partial x}+\frac{\partial\psi }{\partial x}\bar\psi ## is the analogue to the identity you write but it only gives you a similar result for the real part. Similarly if you write ## \psi=r e^{i\theta} ## you get ## \psi\frac{\partial\bar\psi }{\partial x}=\frac{1}{2}\frac{\partial}{\partial x}(r^2)-i r^2\frac{\partial \theta}{\partial x} ##
 

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