HOMEWORK #5

Fourier series and Fourier transforms

1. Consider a periodic function f (x) defined by
f (x) = cos x ,

0 < x < ,

(0.1)

with a period T = .
(a) Sketch the function f (x) for x [, ].
(b) Compute the real form of Fourier series of f (x). Note that all cosine terms in the
series are zero. Use the identity 2 cos x sin y = sin(x + y) sin(x y) when you
compute the Fourier coefficients of the remaining sine series.
(c) Compute the complex form of Fourier series of f (x). The Euler identity
cos x =

eix + eix
,
2

sin x =

eix eix
.
2i

(0.2)

will be useful.
(d) Check explicitly that the results of (b) and (c) are the same.
2. Consider a periodic function f (x) defined by
f (x) = x ,

0 < x < ,

(0.3)

with a period T = .
(a) Compute the real Fourier series of f (x).
(b) Evaluate the Fourier series at the discontinuous point x = 0. Show that the result
is equal to
1
lim (f (0 + ) + f (0 )) .
(0.4)
2 0+
3. Consider a function f (x) defined by
f (x) = 1 ,

0 < x < L,

(0.5)

with a positive number L, and by extending it to L < x < L as an odd function, so

that we have a periodic function with a period T = 2L.
(a) Find the real Fourier series of f (x).
(b) Apply Parsevals relation to the Fourier series in (a) to find the sum

X
n=0

1
.
(2n + 1)2

(0.6)

4. Please remember and understand the equation

X

(f (x)) =

f (xi )=0

(a) Compute
Z

|f 0

1
(x xi ) .
(xi ) |

(0.7)

f (x) (ax + b) dx ,

(0.8)

where a, b are real positive numbers.

(b) Compute
Z




2
ex + 3x3 x2 1 dx .

(0.9)

Be careful about the integration range.

(c) Compute
3
4

x2 (cos x) dx .

(0.10)

Be careful about the integration range.

5. Find the Fourier transforms of the following functions, and check the Parsevals relations for (a) and (c).
(a) er|x| ,

r > 0.

(b) er|x| sin x , r > 0 .

 ax
e
x0
(c) f (x) =
0 x<0

a > 0.

6. In quantum mechanics, the position operator x is a linear map in the vector space of
complex-valued wavefunctions such that
x : f (x) xf (x) .

(0.11)

Similarly, the momentum operator p is a linear map acting on the wavefunctions as

p : f (x) i~

df (x)
.
dx

(0.12)

(a) Show that [

x, p] = xp px = i~ by explicitly computing the action of [
x, p]f (x) =
x (
p (f (x))) p (
x (f (x))).
(b) Show that the delta function fx0 (x) = (x x0 ) is an eigenvector of the position
operator x with an eigenvalue x0 . In physics terms, we say that the state fx0 (x)
has a definite position value x0 .
2

ipx

(c) Show that the exponential function fp (x) = e ~ with a constant p is an eigenvector of the momentum operator p with an eigenvalue p. In physics terms, we say
that the state fp (x) has a definite momentum value p.
(d) The Fourier transform
Z

f (x) =

dk f(k)eikx

(0.13)

can be viewed as writing an arbitrary state f (x) as a linear combination of moipx

mentum eigenvectors fp (x) = e ~ with p = ~k. In other words, the momentum
eigenvectors form a basis of the vector space of complex-valued functions. Can
we have a state which is an eigenvector of both position x and momentum p ?
The answer is called Heisenbergs uncertainty principle.