[Physics] The nature of “hard wall” boundary condition for Schrodinger’s equation

boundary conditionspotentialschroedinger equationwavefunction

For a quantum particle in an one-dimensional infinite well of width $L$, the potential has the formal expression:
$$
V(x) = \begin{cases}
\infty, & x < 0 \\
0, & 0 \le x \le L \\
\infty, & x > L,
\end{cases}
$$

and the "hard wall" boundary condition is imposed: $\psi(0) = \psi(L) = 0$.

However, I don't get, where does this boundary condition come from? It is explained in books like "the wavefunction has to be continuous". However, the domain of this problem is $[0, L]$, and there is plenty of continuous (in the domain $[0, L]$) solutions for the Schrodinger's equation which are not zero at the endpoints of the domain.

As I see it, probably, a better explanation would be: consider an infinite sequence of potentials:
$$
V_n(x) = \begin{cases}
n, & x < 0 \\
0, & 0 \le x \le L \\
n, & x > L
\end{cases}
$$

Then, by looking at the solutions $\psi_m$ of the Schrodinger equation (now we have the domain $\mathbb{R}$), we will see that for any fixed energy $E$, the solutions with total energy less than $E$, tend to zero at the well boundaries: $\lim\limits_{n \to \infty} \psi_n(0) = 0$, $\lim\limits_{n \to \infty} \psi_n(L) = 0$.

So, how should I actually interpret this boundary condition?

Best Answer

The domain of the problem is the entire real line, not $[0,L]$. Otherwise the potential would not be specified for $x>L, x<0$. Thus, calculate the total energy of any wavefunction that does not vanish at $x = 0,L$, you will find it to be infinite. Therefore for all eigenstates that do not have infinite energy, i.e. the entire spectrum, the wavefunction vanishes at the boundaries.

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