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Abstract The Morse potential is an important problem to examine due to its applications in describing vibrations and bond breaking in molecules. It also shares some properties with the simpler harmonic oscillator, at the same time displaying differences, allowing for an interesting contrast to its well-studied counterpart. The solution of the Morse potential is not usually taught in a quantum mechanics class, since using differential equations makes it very tedious. Here, we illustrate how to solve the Morse potential using the Schrödinger factorization method. This operator method is a powerful tool to find the energy eigenvalues, eigenstates, and wavefunctions without using differential equations in position space, allowing us to solve more problems without requiring a discussion of hypergeometric or confluent hypergeometric functions. 

The factorization method of Schrödinger shows us how to determine the energy eigenstates without needing to determine the wavefunctions in position or momentum space. A strategy to convert the energy eigenstates to wavefunctions is well known for the one-dimensional simple harmonic oscillator by employing the Rodrigues formula for the Hermite polynomials in position or momentum space. In this work, we illustrate how to generalize this approach in a representation-independent fashion to find the wavefunctions of other problems in quantum mechanics that can be solved by the factorization method. We examine three problems in detail: (i) the one-dimensional simple harmonic oscillator; (ii) the three-dimensional isotropic harmonic oscillator; and (iii) the three-dimensional Coulomb problem. This approach can be used in either undergraduate or graduate classes in quantum mechanics. 

Using a flexible form for ladder operators that incorporates confluent hypergeometric functions, we show how one can determine all of the discrete energy eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the time-independent Schrödinger equation via a single factorization step and the satisfaction of boundary (or normalizability) conditions. This approach determines the bound states of all exactly solvable problems whose wavefunctions can be expressed in terms of confluent hypergeometric functions. It is an alternative that shares aspects of the conventional differential equation approach and Schrödinger’s factorization method, but is different from both. We also explain how this approach relates to Natanzon’s treatment of the same problem and illustrate how to numerically determine nontrivial potentials that can be solved this way. 

The Landau–Zener problem, where a minimum energy separation is passed with constant rate in a two-state quantum-mechanical system, is an excellent model quantum system for a computational project. It requires a low-level computational effort, but has a number of complex numerical and algorithmic issues that can be resolved through dedicated work. It can be used to teach computational concepts, such as accuracy, discretization, and extrapolation, and it reinforces quantum concepts of time-evolution via a time-ordered product and of extrapolation to infinite time via time-dependent perturbation theory. In addition, we discuss the concept of compression algorithms, which are employed in many advanced quantum computing strategies, and easy to illustrate with the Landau–Zener problem. 

Abstract In this work, we describe strategies and provide case-study activities that can be used to examine the properties of superposition, entanglement, tagging, complementarity, and measurement in quantum curricula geared for teacher training. Having a solid foundation in these conceptual ideas is critical for educators who will be adopting quantum ideas within the classroom. Yet they are some of the most difficult concepts to master. We show how one can systematically develop these conceptual foundations with thought experiments on light and with thought experiments that employ the Stern-Gerlach experiment. We emphasize the importance of computer animations in aiding the instruction on these concepts. 

Quantum mechanics has about a dozen exactly solvable potentials. Normally, the time-independent Schrödinger equation for them is solved by using a generalized series solution for the bound states (using the Fröbenius method) and then an analytic continuation for the continuum states (if present). In this work, we present an alternative way to solve these problems, based on the Laplace method. This technique uses a similar procedure for the bound states and for the continuum states. It was originally used by Schrödinger when he solved the wave functions of hydrogen. Dirac advocated using this method too. We discuss why it is a powerful approach to solve all problems whose wave functions are represented in terms of confluent hypergeometric functions, especially for the continuum solutions, which can be determined by an easy-to-program contour integral. 

The factorization method was introduced by Schrödinger in 1940. Its use in bound-state problems is widely known, including in supersymmetric quantum mechanics; one can create a factorization chain, which simultaneously solves a sequence of auxiliary Hamiltonians that share common eigenvalues with their adjacent Hamiltonians in the chain, except for the lowest eigenvalue. In this work, we generalize the factorization method to continuum energy eigenstates. Here, one does not generically have a factorization chain—instead all energies are solved using a “single-shot factorization”, enabled by writing the superpotential in a form that includes the logarithmic derivative of a confluent hypergeometric function. The single-shot factorization approach is an alternative to the conventional method of “deriving a differential equation and looking up its solution”, but it does require some working knowledge of confluent hypergeometric functions. This can also be viewed as a method for solving the Ricatti equation needed to construct the superpotential. 

The chemistry community has long sought the exact relationship between the conventional and the unitary coupled cluster ansatz for a single-reference system, especially given the interest in performing quantum chemistry on quantum computers. In this work, we show how one can use the operator manipulations given by the exponential disentangling identity and the Hadamard lemma to relate the factorized form of the unitary coupled-cluster approximation to a factorized form of the conventional coupled cluster approximation (the factorized form is required, because some amplitudes are operator-valued and do not commute with other terms). By employing the Trotter product formula, one can then relate the factorized form to the standard form of the unitary coupled cluster ansatz. The operator dependence of the factorized form of the coupled cluster approximation can also be removed at the expense of requiring even more higher-rank operators, finally yielding the conventional coupled cluster. The algebraic manipulations of this approach are daunting to carry out by hand, but can be automated on a computer for small enough systems. 

We generalize Schrödinger’s factorization method for Hydrogen from the conventional separation into angular and radial coordinates to a Cartesian-based factorization. Unique to this approach is the fact that the Hamiltonian is represented as a sum over factorizations in terms of coupled operators that depend on the coordinates and momenta in each Cartesian direction. We determine the eigenstates and energies, the wavefunctions in both coordinate and momentum space, and we also illustrate how this technique can be employed to develop the conventional confluent hypergeometric equation approach. The methodology developed here could potentially be employed for other Hamiltonians that can be represented as the sum over coupled Schrödinger factorizations. 

Quantum phase transitions materialize as level crossings in the ground-state energy when the parameters of the Hamiltonian are varied. The resulting ground-state phase diagrams are straightforward to determine by exact diagonalization on classical computers, but are challenging on quantum computers because of the accuracy needed and the near degeneracy of the competing states close to the level crossings. On the other hand, classical computers are limited to small system sizes, which quantum computers may help overcome. In this work, we use a local adiabatic ramp for state preparation to allow us to directly compute ground-state phase diagrams on a quantum computer via time evolution. This methodology is illustrated by examining the ground states of the XY model with a magnetic field in the z-direction in one dimension. We are able to calculate an accurate phase diagram on both two- and three-site systems using IBM quantum machines.