[Physics] Finding the average energy from the superposition of state

quantum mechanicswavefunction

If I have two energy eigenstates $\psi_1(x)$ and $\psi_2(x)$ (corresponding to energy $E_1$ and $E_2$ respectively) and we prepare a particle in the superposition of both such that it is described by the state:
$$\psi(x) =\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(\psi_1(x)+\psi_2(x))$$ at $t=0$ how would I find the average energy (or momentum say) as a function of time?

Best Answer

A slight expansion on danimal's comment: you can generally get the state $\psi(x,t)$ from the $\psi(x,0)$ you provided by operating on it with the unitary time evolution operator $\exp(-i \hat{H} t/\hbar)$. Since you know the eigenstates, you can write the Hamiltonian in a diagonal basis and this operator will appear to multiply $\psi_n$ simply by $e^{-i E_n t/\hbar}$.

To find the expectation value of any Hermitian observable $\hat{A}$ corresponding to your state at time $t$, you can simply compute $A(x,t) = \langle \psi(x,t) \vert \hat{A} \vert \psi(x,t)\rangle$. To find the time average, you could simply treat this expectation value as a classical function and average it over an interval, say by integration.

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