Quantum Mechanics – What is the Position Wavefunction of Coherent States?

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Consider a coherent state $|\alpha\rangle$, $\alpha\in\mathbb C$. In the context of a quantum harmonic oscillator, this is defined as the eigenvector of the annihilation operator $a$: $a|\alpha\rangle=\alpha|\alpha\rangle$.
In the Fock basis, this can be decomposed as
$$|\alpha\rangle = e^{-|\alpha|^2/2}e^{\alpha a^\dagger}|0\rangle = e^{-|\alpha|^2/2}\sum_{k=0}^\infty \frac{\alpha^k}{\sqrt{k!}}|k\rangle.\tag A$$

An alternative way to express a coherent state is via its wavefunction in the position representation, denote it with $\psi_\alpha(x)$ (it's worth stressing that here "position" is to be understood as an abstract parameter, not necessarily related to a physical position, of which there is no notion of in this context).

How is $\psi_\alpha(x)$ derived? This is currently already to some degree discussed in the Wikipedia page, but I'm looking for the expression in dimensionless quantities and in the time-independent case. Moreover, I am also interested in the derivation of $\psi_\alpha(x)$ starting from (A), passing through the position representation of the Fock states.

Best Answer

Derivation from the eigenvalue condition

The most straightforward approach is to start from the position representation of the annihilation operator $a$.

I'll use the convention $a=\frac{1}{\sqrt2}(x+ip)$ and $a^\dagger=\frac{1}{\sqrt2}(x-ip)$, corresponding to which the canonical commutation relations read $[a,a^\dagger]=1$ and $[x,p]=i$. In the position representation, this corresponds to $a=\frac{1}{\sqrt2}(x+\partial_x)$.

The eigenvalue condition $a|\alpha\rangle=\alpha|\alpha\rangle$ then corresponds to $$x\psi_\alpha(x)+\psi_\alpha'(x)=\sqrt2\alpha\psi_\alpha(x),$$ which we can rewrite as $$\psi_\alpha'(x) = (\sqrt2\alpha-x)\psi_\alpha(x).$$ A natural ansatz to solve this is $\psi_\alpha(x)=C e^{f(x)}$ for some constant $C$. Using this we get $$f'(x) = \sqrt2\alpha-x \Longrightarrow f(x) = \sqrt2\alpha x - \frac{x^2}{2} + C'.$$ Upon some simple rearranging of the terms we get $\psi_\alpha(x) \propto \exp[-\frac12(x - \sqrt2\alpha)^2]$, which ensuring normalisation finally leads to $$\psi_\alpha(x) = \frac{e^{-\alpha_2^2}}{\pi^{1/4}} \exp\left[-\frac12(x - \sqrt2\alpha)^2\right],\tag{$R_1$}$$ where $\alpha=\alpha_1+i\alpha_2$.


Derivation from (A)

Consider the wavefunctions $\psi_n$ of $|n\rangle$, which have the form $$\psi_n(x) = \frac{1}{\pi^{1/4}\sqrt{2^n n!}} e^{-x^2/2}H_n(x),\tag B$$ where $H_n$ are the Hermite polynomials, defined here as $H_n(x)=(2x-\partial_x)^n \cdot 1$. This expression for $\psi_n$ comes from $$\psi_n(x) = \langle x|\frac{a^{\dagger n}}{\sqrt{n!}}|0\rangle = \frac{1}{\pi^{1/4}\sqrt{2^n n!}} (x-\partial_x)^n e^{-x^2/2} = \frac{1}{\pi^{1/4}\sqrt{2^n n!}} e^{-x^2/2}H_n(x).$$ Using (B) in (A), we get $$ \psi_\alpha(x) = e^{-|\alpha|^2/2} \frac{e^{-x^2/2}}{\pi^{1/4}} \sum_{k=0}^\infty \frac{\alpha^k}{\sqrt{k!}} \frac{1}{\sqrt{2^k k!}} H_k(x). $$ We now consider the identity $$\sum_{k=0}^\infty H_k(x) \frac{t^k}{k!} = e^{2xt - t^2}.$$ Using this with $t=\alpha/\sqrt2$ we get $$\psi_\alpha(x) = e^{-|\alpha|^2/2} \frac{e^{-x^2/2}}{\pi^{1/4}} e^{\sqrt2\alpha x - \alpha^2/2} = \frac{1}{\pi^{1/4}}e^{\frac12(\alpha^2-|\alpha|^2)}\exp\left[ -\frac12(x-\sqrt2\alpha)^2 \right]. \tag{$R_2$} $$ Observing that $\alpha^2-|\alpha|^2=-2\alpha_2^2 + 2i\alpha_1\alpha_2$, we see that ($R_2$) is consistent with ($R_1$), up to an irrelevant global phase. An analogous derivation is also given in Gerry, Knight (2004), section 3.3.

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