Normalizing etc. Wavefunction of hydrogen atom

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on normalizing the wavefunction of a hydrogen atom, specifically the equation \(\psi(r,\theta,\varphi)=\sqrt{6\pi}A\sqrt{r}e^{-r/a}\). The user derived the normalization constant \(A=\frac{1}{3\pi^2 a^4}\) by separating the wavefunction into radial and angular components, utilizing the spherical harmonic \(Y_{0,0}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{4\pi}}\). Feedback from other users clarified that integrating the wavefunction over all space suffices for normalization, and that the separation into spherical harmonics was unnecessary for this specific problem.

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Kentaxel
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Homework Statement



Find the constant A such that the equation

\psi(r,\theta,\varphi)=\sqrt{6\pi}A\sqrt{r}e^{-r/a}

Wich describes one electron in a hydrogenatom, is normalized

The Attempt at a Solution


I figured this equation is seperable in the form

\psi(r,\theta,\varphi)=R(r)Y_{l,m}(\theta,\varphi)

Such that Y_{l,m} is the first spherical harmonic

Y_{0,0}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{4\pi}}

Enabling me to write ψ in the form

\sqrt{24}{\pi}A\sqrt{r}e^{-r/a}Y_{0,0}(\theta\varphi)

and since the spherical harmonics are all normalized it is suficient to normalize this acording to

\int\left|\sqrt{24}{\pi}A\sqrt{r}e^{-r/a}\right|^2 r^2 dr =1

Which gives me the result

A=\frac{1}{3\pi^2 a^4}the problem is just that there is no solution available and I am not exactly 100% that this is correct so i would appreciate some input.
 
Last edited:
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Your solving way is right. But why you choose l=0, m=o. I think you have to write in general form i.e.,

I attached file.
 

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Kentaxel said:

Homework Statement



Find the constant A such that the equation

\psi(r,\theta,\varphi)=\sqrt{6\pi}A\sqrt{r}e^{-r/a}

Wich describes one electron in a hydrogenatom, is normalized

The Attempt at a Solution


I figured this equation is seperable in the form

\psi(r,\theta,\varphi)=R(r)Y_{l,m}(\theta,\varphi)

Such that Y_{l,m} is the first spherical harmonic

Y_{0,0}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{4\pi}}

Enabling me to write ψ in the form

\sqrt{24}{\pi}A\sqrt{r}e^{-r/a}Y_{0,0}(\theta\varphi)

and since the spherical harmonics are all normalized it is suficient to normalize this acording to

\int\left|\sqrt{24}{\pi}A\sqrt{r}e^{-r/a}\right|^2 r^2 dr =1

Which gives me the result

A=\frac{1}{3\pi^2 a^4}


the problem is just that there is no solution available and I am not exactly 100% that this is correct so i would appreciate some input.
Method seems fine. Viewing it as a spherical harmonic though is unnecessary. All you needed to do was integrate the given wave function over all space and the angular contributions would give 4pi (full solid angle).
 
The reason i choose to separate it was because of the following questions which are

Show that ψ is not an energy eigenfunction.

and

Compute the probability to find the system in the groundstate of the hamilton operator when measuring the energy.

Where regarding the first one i thought that in writing the given wavefunction in that form it was obvious that it is not one of the solutions listed for an electron in a hydrogenic atom. This however feels allot like a guess on my part.

For the second one i used the fact that i knew l and m was 0 and tried to solve it by taking \left|c_{1,0,0}\right| ^2 = \left|<\psi_{1,0,0}|\psi > \right| ^2

Otherwise how would i know what groundstate psi to use?

Edit: actually since the ground state is non degenerate i suppose that would not matter?
 
Last edited:

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