Application of the independent perturbation theory (the non-degenerate case):

Perturbation theory for one-dimensional anharmonic oscillator

P 2 m 2 Q 2

Q 3 Q 4 , where and are constants.

2m
2
Obtain the energy up to the second order term in perturbation theory and the ket state up
to the first order term.
The Hamiltonian: H

Summary of the unperturbed problem (the one-dimensional harmonic oscillator):

P 2 m 2Q 2
;
H0

H 0 | n En0 | n .
2m
2
The state n

1 x

1
2n n ! 1/ 4

x ( )
H n ( )e 2 x0 (with x0
and H n ( z ) the Hermite
m
x0
x0
2

1
polynomials) has the associated energy E n0 (n ) ; n 0,1, 2,... .
2
m
1
x
(Q i
P) .
The creation operator: a
Q
(a a ) 0 (a a )
2
m
2m
2
m
1
m
i
Pi
(a a )
(a a )
(Q i
P) .
The annihilation operator: a
2
2
m
2 x0

The action of the annihilation and creation operators (the ladder operators) on the state n is
given by a n n n 1 and a n (n 1) n 1 .
The perturbed problem: H H 0 V , with V Q3 Q4 .
Up to second order of perturbation the energy is En En(0) En(1) En( 2) +..
where: En( 0) En0 , En(1) n (Q 3 Q 4 ) n , E n( 2)

m (Q 3 Q 4 ) n

m n

E n0 E m0

Up to first order, the perturbed state is:

n n

m (Q 3 Q 4 ) n

m n

E n0 E m0

m .

In order to determine the above matrix elements, one firstly needs to calculate the action of the
different powers of the coordinate operator Q on the state n , i.e.

Q | n

x0
2

(a a ) | n ...

Q 2 | n Q(Q | n )

x0
2

(a a )(Q | n ) ...

Q3 | n Q(Q 2 | n )
Q 4 | n Q(Q3 | n )

x0
2
x0
2

(a a )(Q 2 | n ) ...
(a a )(Q3 | n ) ...
3

Note that Q3 | n ( x0 )3 ( ) 2 and Q4 | n ( x0 )4 ( )2 .

The energy:
Since m | n mn , for the first order correction of the energy En(1) n (Q 3 Q 4 ) n , just
the n Q4 n gives a non-zero contribution. It will result that En(1) n Q4 n
For the second order contribution,
(2)
n

m ( Q3 Q 4 ) n

( )2 .

En0 Em0

m n

m Q3 n

m Q3 n n Q 4 m m Q 4 n n Q3 m m Q 4 n

( n m)

m n
5

( ) 2 2( ) 2 ( )3 ,

we retain only terms proportional to ( ) 2 . The second order correction should be of the same
order of magnitude with the first order correction.

(2)
n

m n

m Q3 n

(n m)

O( 3 )

Observe that the only nonzero matrix elements for the third order term are:
n 3 Q 3 n ...
n 1 Q 3 n ...
n 1 Q n ...
3

n 3 Q 3 n ....

En(2)

m n 3, n 1,
n 1, n 3

m Q3 n

(n m)

O( 3 ) ... En En(0) En(1) En(2) ... .

The state:
As above, based on the fact that m | n mn , one has to choose just scalar products with

m n identical to the states that appear explicitly in the expression of Q3 | n and Q4 | n .

Therefore, we also need
n 4 Q 4 n ...
m ( Q3 Q 4 ) n
n n
m
( n m)
m n
n 2 Q 4 n ...
and finally,
.
m Q3 n
m Q4 n
n 2 Q 4 n ...
n
m
m ...
( n m)
( n m)
4
m n 3, n 1,
m n 4, n 2,
n 4 Q n ....
n 1, n 3
n 2, n 4

Different resuls:
3
3
1
3
(
) 2 n(n 1)(n 2);
n 1 Q3 n
(
) 2 n3 ;
8 m
8 m
3
3
1
3
n 3 Q3 n
(
) 2 (n 1)(n 2)(n 3); n 1 Q3 n
(
) 2 (n 1) n 1.
8 m
8 m
We need the diagonal matrix element of:
3
n Q4 n (
)2 (2n2 2n 1)
4 m
The second order contribution of the quartic term to energy for the moment can be neglected.
Then, for the energy, we obtain:

n 3 Q3 n

1
3
1 15 2
11
2
En (n )
(
n

)
(
)3 (n 2 n ).

2
2 m
2
4 m
30
2