The surprising divergence of the expectation value $ $ for the square well potential is known. Here, we prove and demonstrate the divergence of $ $ in potential wells which… Click to show full abstract
The surprising divergence of the expectation value $ $ for the square well potential is known. Here, we prove and demonstrate the divergence of $ $ in potential wells which have a finite jump discontinuity; apart from the square-well two-piece half-potentials wells are examples. These half-potential wells can be expressed as $V(x)=-U(x) \Theta(x)$, where $\Theta(x)$ is the Heaviside step function. $U(x)$ are continuous and differentiable functions with minimum at $x=0$ and which may or not vanish as $x\sim \infty$.
               
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