The Wave Mechanical Damped Harmonic Oscillator

Abstract

The classical problem of a damped harmonic motion is formulated wave mechanically, with particular reference to the charge in a tuned circuit, and the electromagnetic field in a resonant cavity. Results in close agreement with the classical problem are obtained, without using perturbation theory. The classical frequency appears in the time dependence of the eigenfunctions and the classical damping appears as a decay in the eigenvalues. Zero point energy and thermal noise are discussed. The formulation is expected to break down, at very high frequencies, for tuned circuits and it is suggested that the same may be true for cavity oscillations and travelling electromagnetic waves.