Why does this anticommutator yield this particular result?

  • Thread starter Thread starter space-time
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Yield
space-time
Messages
218
Reaction score
4
I was calculating the anticommutator between the momentum operator p and the position operator x (just pretend that p and x have the little operator hats above them). Here is the expression:

{p , x} = px + xp

Now we know that p is as follows:

p = -i(∂/∂x) (Note: I am using natural units so ħ = 1)
x = x

Now, to solve the anti-commutator:

px = -i * [ ∂(xf(x))/∂x] = -if(x) - ix(∂f/∂x)
xp = -ix(∂f/∂x)
px + xp = -if(x) - ix(∂f/∂x) - ix(∂f/∂x) = -if(x) - 2ix(∂f/∂x) = -if(x) + 2xp

Now just take out the f(x) (which was just a place holder function) and you should get:

{p , x} = -i + 2xp

However, some websites that I have gone to in order to check my work suggest that the answer is supposed to be:

i + 2xp (notice that the i has no negative sign).

Why is this? What happens to that -i that is supposed to be there? Did I make a careless mistake anywhere or did the website make a mistake?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
space-time said:
However, some websites that I have gone to in order to check my work suggest that the answer is supposed to be:
Please link to websites you refer to. Otherwise we have no way of checking what you are referring to.

Regarding your problem, it is much easier to use the relation [A,B] + {A,B} = 2AB, which holds for any operators A and B. You can check your answer using it.
 
In this link, note the ordering of operators in the final expression of the second answer. I don't know which website you're looking at, but pay attention to the order of operators.
 
Not an expert in QM. AFAIK, Schrödinger's equation is quite different from the classical wave equation. The former is an equation for the dynamics of the state of a (quantum?) system, the latter is an equation for the dynamics of a (classical) degree of freedom. As a matter of fact, Schrödinger's equation is first order in time derivatives, while the classical wave equation is second order. But, AFAIK, Schrödinger's equation is a wave equation; only its interpretation makes it non-classical...
Insights auto threads is broken atm, so I'm manually creating these for new Insight articles. Towards the end of the first lecture for the Qiskit Global Summer School 2025, Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, Olivia Lanes (Global Lead, Content and Education IBM) stated... Source: https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/quantum-entanglement-is-a-kinematic-fact-not-a-dynamical-effect/ by @RUTA
Is it possible, and fruitful, to use certain conceptual and technical tools from effective field theory (coarse-graining/integrating-out, power-counting, matching, RG) to think about the relationship between the fundamental (quantum) and the emergent (classical), both to account for the quasi-autonomy of the classical level and to quantify residual quantum corrections? By “emergent,” I mean the following: after integrating out fast/irrelevant quantum degrees of freedom (high-energy modes...

Similar threads

Back
Top