This applet illustrates the simple harmonic oscillator in nonrelativistic quantum mechanics.

The seven (four in the demo) lowest-energy normalized eigenfunctions are available. They are chosen to be real, with sign conventions as shown in the following diagram:

The user chooses the phase and relative amplitude of the coefficients at t=0. The applet plots the initial normalized probability distribution and animates its time development.

The user can also choose to build and animate a coherent state. (In fact, this state will be only approximately coherent because of the finite number of available basis states.)

Instructions for use