Friday, 5 January 2018

quantum mechanics - Expectation values of commutator and anti-commutator (momentum and position)


What are the expectation values of commutator and anti-commutator for momentum and position operators? In the case of commutator: $$\langle[x,p]\rangle=\langle i\hbar\rangle=~?$$ In the case of anti-commutator: $$\langle \{x,p\}\rangle=~?$$



Answer



$i\hbar$ is simply a number, or if you must regard it as an operator, a multiple of the identity. So $\langle i\hbar \rangle=i\hbar$, and so is $\langle -i\hbar \rangle$.


By the way, anticommutator of $\hat{x}$ and $\hat{p}$ is not $[\hat{p},\hat{x}]$, but $\{\hat{x},\hat{p}\}=\hat{x}\hat{p}+\hat{p}\hat{x}$.


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