Given a normalised wavefunction say ψ(x)=Asin(nπx), (where A is a normalisation constant) I can calculate the probability of finding the particle being between a position x and x+dx as ∫x+dxxψ(x)∗ψ(x)dx. Likewise I can calculate the expected value of the energy ⟨E⟩=∫∞−∞ψ(x)∗ˆHψ(x)dx. However, how can I calculate the probability of a given value of the energy say E=ℏ2π22 as my wavefunction ψ(x) is defined in terms of position not energy?
Answer
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Elaborating on the answer of zeldredge, I want to say why the following expression works:
P(E_0) = \left| \int_{-\infty}^{\infty} \ \Phi^* \psi \d x \right|^2 \tag{1}
Notice that the eigenfunctions of the Hamiltonian spans the space. That is you can write any function \psi as a linear combination of eigenfunctions of the Hamiltonian ie.
\psi=a_0\Phi_0+a_1\Phi_1+a_2\Phi_2 \dots = \sum_i a_i \Phi_i \tag{2}
with a_i \in \mathbb C and \sum_i \left|a_i \right|^2=1. Notice that as in all superposition of states the probability of finding particle in a particular state is given by \left| a_i \right|^2. Assuming that you have chosen your states cleverly such that they are orthonormal ie they satisfy the following property,
\int \Phi_i^*\Phi_j \d x = \delta_{ij}
you can see immediately why Eqn. (1) works.
\int \Phi_i^* \psi \d x = \int \Phi_i^* \sum_j a_j \Phi_j \d x = \sum_j a_j\int \Phi_i^* \Phi_j \d x = \sum_j \delta_{ij} a_j =a_i
Therefore the norm squared of this expression just gives the probability to find the state in the energy eigenfunction \Phi_i.
Notice I assumed that the energy levels are discrete to write the equation (2). Furthermore I dropped x's in \psi(x) and \Phi(x) because they were cluttering the equations.
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