Uses of Laguerre Differential Equ.

[almoneal]

Does anybody know what the use of the Laguerre Differential Equation would be? I am having a hard time finding what areas of physics this diff. eq. is used in. Thanks.

 

[jtbell]

It arises in solving Schrödinger's Equation to find the quantum-mechanical wave function of hydrogen. Specifically, it's associated with the radial part of the wave function. See this site, for example.

(Hmm, I see it doesn't mention Laguerre's equation specifically by name, but it does come up with the Laguerre polynomials which are part of the solution.)

 

[almoneal]

Thanks

Thank you, that site looks like it will help out quite a bit. It looks like it give a much more detail explanation that a lot of the other site I have seen.