Through direct simulation with a computer program, we have verified that the published formula for the propagator of the one-dimensional simple harmonic oscillator (1DSHO), when applied in the straightforward manner in which physicists might interpret it, predicts the wrong development of the wave function for half the future times. This note presents a new and simple derivation of the (known) explicit phase factors of the normalization of the 1DSHO propagator that yield the correct development of any initial wave function for all times.
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© 1998 American Association of Physics Teachers.
1998
American Association of Physics Teachers
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