In this paper, we are going to illustrate the effectiveness of the method of the inhomogeneous differential equation in obtaining the energy shift of a quantum level in second order perturbation theory. The energy shift will be used to calculate the electric polarizability due to the interaction between a static electric field and a charged particle moving under the influence of a one‐dimensional delta potential. Both relativistic and nonrelativistic problems will be treated.

Topics
Electric fields, Polarizability, Perturbation theory, Generalized functions
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© 1995 American Association of Physics Teachers.
1995
American Association of Physics Teachers
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