Derivation — Wave Packet

[ \Psi(x,t) = e^{i(k_0 x - \omega_0 t)} \cdot e^{-\sigma^2 (x - v_g t)^2} \cdot \text{(constant)} ]

Then (ignoring dispersion):

We’ll start with the simplest 1D case. A single plane wave [ \psi_k(x,t) = e^{i(kx - \omega(k) t)} ] has definite momentum ( \hbar k ) but extends infinitely in space. To get a localized wave, we superpose many plane waves with different (k) values. 2. Wave packet definition Consider a continuous superposition: wave packet derivation