Quantum Mechanics – Transition from Discrete Case to Continuous Case Regarding Born’s Rule

born-rulehilbert-spaceprobabilityquantum mechanics

I learned that given that the eigenvalue equation is $$
\widehat{A}\left|u_{n}^{i}\right\rangle=\lambda_{n}\left|u_{n}^{i}\right\rangle
$$

where $
i \in\{1,2, \ldots, g_n\}
$
, and that the state $
|\psi\rangle
$
is not normalised, the probability of obtaining an eigenvalue $
\lambda_{n}
$
is given by:
$$
P\left(\lambda_{n}\right)=\frac{\sum_{i=1}^{g_{n}}\left|\left\langle u_{i}^{n} \mid \psi\right\rangle\right|^{2}}{\langle\psi \mid \psi\rangle}
$$

Now, from a discrete case, if we shift to the case with a continuous eigenvalue equation given by:
$$
\hat{A}\left|v_{\alpha}\right\rangle=\alpha\left|v_{\alpha}\right\rangle
$$

where $\alpha$ is a continuous variable, then how can we naturally move on from the above probability expression to its continuous case wherein we happen to bring in the concept of probability density?

I tried to tackle this by first writing down an arbitrary ket in the state space as:
$$
|\psi\rangle=\int c(\alpha)\left|v_{\alpha}\right\rangle d \alpha
$$

where $c(\alpha)=\left\langle v_{\alpha} \mid \psi\right\rangle$ which is the wavefunction here.

Is it correct to use the same analogy for the discrete case and write down the probability of measuring an eigenvalue as given below?
$$
P(\alpha)=|c(\alpha) d \alpha|^{2}
$$

I somehow need to come to the result:
$$
\frac{d P(\alpha)}{d \alpha}=\frac{|c(\alpha)|^{2}}{\langle\psi \mid \psi\rangle}
$$

Any idea or a complete result will be appreciated. I just want a smooth transition from discrete case to a continuous case.

Best Answer

You are nearly on the right track. I will give a simple explanation without any mathematical rigour.

When the system is in state $$|\psi\rangle = \int c(\alpha)|v_\alpha\rangle d\alpha$$ then, when measuring $\hat{A}$, the probability of obtaining a value in the range $[\alpha, \alpha + d\alpha]$ is $$dP(\alpha) = \frac{|c(\alpha)|^2 d\alpha}{\langle\psi|\psi\rangle}.$$ Note that the probability $dP(\alpha)$ needs to be a differential (when $d\alpha\to 0$ you also have $dP(\alpha)\to 0$). Therefore it is an equation between infinitesimal quantities. Dividing this equation by $d\alpha$ you get a probability density $$\frac{dP(\alpha)}{d\alpha} = \frac{|c(\alpha)|^2}{\langle\psi|\psi\rangle}.$$