Quantum Mechanics – Heisenberg Equation with Time-Dependent Hamiltonian

hamiltonianquantum mechanicsschroedinger equationtime evolution

It is the root of quantum mechanics that Heisenberg picture and Schrödinger picture are equivalent?

In most textbooks and wikipedia, the equivalence is proved with a time-independent Hamiltonian. However, some literature uses Heisenberg equation with time-dependent Hamiltonian.

$$i\hbar \frac{dA}{dt}~=~[A(t),H(t)]+i\hbar \frac{\partial A}{\partial t}.$$

So, does Heisenberg equation work with time-dependent Hamiltonian? If so, any proof?

Best Answer

The short answer is that the time evolution operator for a time-dependent Hamiltonian has two times, the initial and final $U (t,s) $.

Therefore defining $A (t,s)=U (s,t)A U (t,s) $, the Heisenberg equation is obtained differentiating with respect to $t $. Schroedinger equation is obtained differentiating $U (t,s) \psi (s)$ instead. The two are equivalent in the usual sense, i.e. they both give the same time-evolved transition amplitudes.