Symmetric square well, wavefunction is weird

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on the challenge of expressing a wavefunction Ψ(x,0) = ε(x) (3a)-½(1 - cos (2πx/a)) for a symmetric infinite square well of width 2a in terms of linear combinations of cosine and sine functions. The user seeks to identify the corresponding quantum numbers n for the energy eigenvalues from the given wavefunction. A key suggestion is to utilize a Fourier transform to achieve the desired linear combination, as traditional trigonometric identities are insufficient due to the presence of ε(x).

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  • Familiarity with symmetric infinite square well potentials.
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StarWombat
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OP warned about not using the homework template
Hi,
I'm trying to work my way through some problems and am stuck on one for a symmetric infinite square well, of width 2a, so -a<x<+a. Since this is the symmetric case, the wavefunction should be a linear combination of the terms

(a) cos (nπx/2a) for odd n,
(a) sin (nπx/2a) for even n.

The question gives a wavefunction Ψ(x,0) = ε(x) (3a)(1 - cos (2πx/a)) where ε(x) = +1 for x>0, -1 for x<0. I want to rearrange this so it's a linear combination of cos and sin terms, for various values of n. It's easy to get 1-cos(2y) to a single term proportional to sin2(y) using trig identities, but I don't want the square. I want a linear combination of cosine and sine terms where I can read off the value of n for each term (and hence find the probabilities of the various energy eigenvalues). I don't think I can just read n out of the existing cosine because that would imply that n=4, but the cos terms correspond to odd values of n.

And I'm probably sleepy and will kick myself once I see the solution, but at the moment I just can't think of what way to massage this into the linear combination I want. So if anyone has any ideas please shout them out.

Thanks in advance
 
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You won't be able to do it with trigonometric identities because of the ε(x). Try a Fourier transform.
 

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