Abstract (eng)
This diploma thesis deals with the model of the harmonic oscillator and compares various mathematical formalisms and their physical implications. As mathematical model systems, harmonic oscillators are of fundamental importance in numerous areas of classical and modern physics. In this diploma thesis, a consistent and compact discourse on harmonic oscillators is formulated, which ranges from the description of a simple spring pendulum based on Newtonian mechanics to the modern treatment of the supersymmetric harmonic oscillator. This covers in particular
classical harmonic vibrations according to Newtonian and Hamiltonian mechanics,
stationary and time-dependent solutions of the Schrödinger equation of the harmonic oscillator both by ladder operators and by the power series method according to Sommerfeld,
classical limits and quasi-classical coherent states
as well as phonon vibrations, multi-particle systems in the occupation number representation and supersymmetries.
Central is the uniform formulation of these different systems, for which a detailed comparison of the classical and quantummechanical description of the harmonic oscillator is provided. The simplest possible mathematical methods are stringently used, so that this diploma thesis can be used by physics students in an early stage of their studies as an accessible compendium of theoretical physics about elementary differences between classical and quantummechanical models, based on the harmonic oscillator and the principle of correspondence.