Measuring a superposition of harmonic oscillator energy eigenstates

daveyman · Oct 30, 2008

I think this is a basic question:

If a state is in a superposition of energy eigen states of the harmonic oscillator, what will a single measurement yield?

Will it be <H>?

newbee · Oct 30, 2008

A measurement of what? I guess you mean an energy measurement. A single measurement would yield one of possible energy eigenvalues. The probability of a single measurement yielding a particular energy eigenvalue is equal to the modulus squared of the coefficient of expansion for that particular eigenstate in the superposition state.

newbee · Oct 30, 2008

Ie. Not the expectation value of the energy.

Measuring a superposition of harmonic oscillator energy eigenstates

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