Student difficulties with quantum states while translating state vectors in Dirac notation to wave functions in position and momentum representations
written by
Emily Marshman and Chandralekha Singh
Dirac notation is often used in upper level quantum mechanics courses, but students struggle with this representation. To investigate the difficulties that advanced students (i.e., upper-level undergraduate and graduate students) have while translating state vectors in Dirac notation to wave functions in position and momentum representations, we administered free-response and multiple-choice questions and conducted individual interviews with students. We find that students display common difficulties with these topics.
Physics Education Research Conference 2015
Part of the PER Conference series
College Park, MD: July 29-30, 2015
Pages 211-214
This material is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.
Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the published article's author(s), title, proceedings citation, and DOI.
<a href="https://www.compadre.org/quantum/items/detail.cfm?ID=13873">Marshman, Emily, and Chandralekha Singh. "Student difficulties with quantum states while translating state vectors in Dirac notation to wave functions in position and momentum representations." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2015, College Park, MD, July 29-30, 2015.</a>
E. Marshman and C. Singh, , presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2015, College Park, MD, 2015, WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13873&DocID=4291).
E. Marshman and C. Singh, Student difficulties with quantum states while translating state vectors in Dirac notation to wave functions in position and momentum representations, presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2015, College Park, MD, 2015, <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13873&DocID=4291>.
Marshman, E., & Singh, C. (2015, July 29-30). Student difficulties with quantum states while translating state vectors in Dirac notation to wave functions in position and momentum representations. Paper presented at Physics Education Research Conference 2015, College Park, MD. Retrieved November 12, 2024, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13873&DocID=4291
Marshman, Emily, and Chandralekha Singh. "Student difficulties with quantum states while translating state vectors in Dirac notation to wave functions in position and momentum representations." Paper presented at the Physics Education Research Conference 2015, College Park, MD, July 29-30, 2015. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13873&DocID=4291 (accessed 12 November 2024).
Marshman, Emily, and Chandralekha Singh. "Student difficulties with quantum states while translating state vectors in Dirac notation to wave functions in position and momentum representations." Physics Education Research Conference 2015. College Park, MD: 2015. 211-214 of PER Conference. 12 Nov. 2024 <https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13873&DocID=4291>.
@inproceedings{
Author = "Emily Marshman and Chandralekha Singh",
Title = {Student difficulties with quantum states while translating state vectors in Dirac notation to wave functions in position and momentum representations},
BookTitle = {Physics Education Research Conference 2015},
Pages = {211-214},
Address = {College Park, MD},
Series = {PER Conference},
Month = {July 29-30},
Year = {2015}
}
%A Emily Marshman %A Chandralekha Singh %T Student difficulties with quantum states while translating state vectors in Dirac notation to wave functions in position and momentum representations %S PER Conference %D July 29-30 2015 %P 211-214 %C College Park, MD %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13873&DocID=4291 %O Physics Education Research Conference 2015 %O July 29-30 %O application/pdf
%0 Conference Proceedings %A Marshman, Emily %A Singh, Chandralekha %D July 29-30 2015 %T Student difficulties with quantum states while translating state vectors in Dirac notation to wave functions in position and momentum representations %B Physics Education Research Conference 2015 %C College Park, MD %P 211-214 %S PER Conference %8 July 29-30 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=13873&DocID=4291
Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.