Monday, March 2, 2015

Eigenvalue and eigenvectors for the 2 electron matrix.

Please post your questions, comments and results related to the 6x6 matrix describing 2 electrons and two sites. Feel free to edit the matrix in here, as well as some eigenvalues and their eigenvectors.

The best initial focus for this is, I believe, to complete the eigenvalue spectrum; that is to find all 6 eigenvalues and to think about their arrangement as a function of energy from lowest to highest. To get an explicit result from which we can begin to understand the essential physics, let's look for a result valid to 1st order in I/U, where I/U is less than one, and also the specific case I = 1 eV and U = 4 eV.

For each eigenvector there is a story. Why does it have the energy it has? How does it acquire that; what is the nature of its eigenvector? All of the eigenvectors have a story. Some of them have really interesting stories. Find them and tell their stories here. 

PS. To give you a starting point to think (and dream and wonder) about this, I believe eigenvectors think mostly about one thing: energy. Some of them are pretty vain and they are focused on their own eigenvalue. (To be fair, some of them think also about relationships, e.g., orthogonality.)

3 comments:

  1. For example, think about the triplets. What are they? What are they thinking? What do they have in common? What are that good at doing?

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    1. I meant: "what are they good at doing?"

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    2. Maybe ask yourself this: how do those eigenstates feel about U?

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