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Harmonic Oscillator Hamiltonian Matrix

The basis is the harmonic oscillator energy eigenstates. We know the eigenvalues of \bgroup\color{black}$H$\egroup.

\begin{displaymath}\bgroup\color{black}Hu_j=E_ju_j\egroup\end{displaymath}


\begin{displaymath}\bgroup\color{black}\langle i\vert H\vert j\rangle=E_j\delta_{ij}=\left(j+{1\over2}\right)\hbar\omega\delta_{ij}\egroup\end{displaymath}

The Kronecker delta gives us a diagonal matrix.

\begin{displaymath}\bgroup\color{black}H=\hbar\omega\left(\matrix{
{1\over 2}&0...
...0&0&0&{7\over 2}&...\cr
... &... &...&... &... }\right)\egroup\end{displaymath}



James Branson
2001-09-17