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In quantum mechanics, a translation operator is defined as an operator which shifts particles and fields by a certain amount in a certain direction. More specifically, for any displacement vector , there is a corresponding translation operator that shifts particles and fields by the amount . For example, if acts on a particle located at position , the result is a particle at position . Translation operators are linear and unitary. They are closely related to the momentum operator; for example, a translation operator that moves by an infinitesimal amount in the direction has a simple relationship to the -component of the momentum operator. Because of this, conservation of momentum holds when the translation operators commute with the Hamiltonian, i.e. when laws of physics are translation-invariant. This is an example of Noether's theorem. ==Action on position eigenkets and wavefunctions== The translation operator moves particles and fields by the amount x. Therefore, if a particle is in an eigenstate of the position operator (i.e., precisely located at the position r), then after acts on it, the particle is at the position (r+x): : An alternative (and equivalent) way to describe what the translation operator does is based on position-space wavefunctions. If a particle has a position-space wavefunction , and acts on the particle, the new position-space wavefunction is defined by . This relation is easier to remember as : "The value of the new wavefunction at the new point equals the value of the old wavefunction at the old point".〔(Lecture notes by Robert Littlejohn )〕 Here is an example showing that these two descriptions are equivalent. The state corresponds to the wavefunction (where is the Dirac delta function), while the state corresponds to the wavefunction . These indeed satisfy . : constitutes a basis of state space.〔Page no.-108, Chapter-2,Volume-1, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Bernard Diu, Franck Laloë〕 Therefore it is possible to characterize each ket by its " wave function in the representation": : 〔Page no. 68, Section 1.10, R. Shankar, Principles of Quantum Mechanics〕 Consider the wave function associated with the ket in the representation: Using the fact that the position operator is Hermitian and is the eigenvector of with eigenvalue , : The action of in the representation is therefore simply a multiplication by . As explained in a later section, when a translation operator acts on a bra in the position eigenbasis, the result is: : Therefore, the wave function associated with the ket in the representation is written as: : |} 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Translation operator (quantum mechanics)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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