Chapter 12, Problem 12.35E

Interpretation Introduction

Interpretation:

The reason as to why a perturbation $\widehat{H^{\prime }}=c{x}^3$ would not work for an energy correction to a ground-state harmonic oscillator is to be stated.

Concept introduction:

Perturbation theory assumes that a system can be approximated as a known, solvable system. The difference between the known system and system of interest is small and additive. Thus, the Hamiltonian for the real system can be written as given below.

${\widehat{H}}_{\text{system}}={\widehat{H}}_{\text{ideal}}+{\widehat{H}}_{\text{perturb}}$