23.1: Postulate 1- The Wave Function Postulate
- Page ID
- 416100
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The state of a quantum mechanical system is completely specified by a function \(\Psi({\bf r}, t)\) that depends on the coordinates of the particle(s) and on time. This function, called the wave function or state function, has the important property that \(\Psi^{*}({\bf r}, t)\Psi({\bf r}, t) d\tau\) is the probability that the particle lies in the volume element \(d\tau\) located at \({\bf r}\) at time \(t\).
The wave function must satisfy certain mathematical conditions because of this probabilistic interpretation. For the case of a single particle, the probability of finding it somewhere is 1, so that we have the normalization condition
\[ \int_{-\infty}^{\infty} \Psi^{*}({\bf r}, t) \Psi({\bf r}, t) d\tau = 1 \label{24.1.1} \]
It is customary to also normalize many-particle wave functions to 1. As we already saw for the particle in a box in chapter 20, a consequence of the first postulate is that the wave function must also be single-valued, continuous, and finite, so that derivatives can be defined and calculated at each point in space. This consequence allows for operators (which typically involve derivation) to be applied without mathematical issues.