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Dirac Delta Function As Limit of A Gaussian

The Dirac delta function can be represented as the limit of a Gaussian integral. Specifically: 1) A Gaussian function gΔ(x-x0) is defined, which has an integral of 1 over all real x for any positive real value of Δ2. 2) As Δ2 approaches 0, gΔ(x-x0) becomes zero everywhere except at x=x0, satisfying the properties of a delta function. 3) Surprisingly, this is also true if Δ2 is replaced with a positive imaginary number iβ2, as the rapidly oscillating exponential averages to zero everywhere except x=x0 in the limit that β2 approaches 0.

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252 views

Dirac Delta Function As Limit of A Gaussian

The Dirac delta function can be represented as the limit of a Gaussian integral. Specifically: 1) A Gaussian function gΔ(x-x0) is defined, which has an integral of 1 over all real x for any positive real value of Δ2. 2) As Δ2 approaches 0, gΔ(x-x0) becomes zero everywhere except at x=x0, satisfying the properties of a delta function. 3) Surprisingly, this is also true if Δ2 is replaced with a positive imaginary number iβ2, as the rapidly oscillating exponential averages to zero everywhere except x=x0 in the limit that β2 approaches 0.

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rmoliveira17
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DIRAC DELTA FUNCTION AS LIMIT OF A GAUSSIAN

INTEGRAL

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Shankar, R. (1994), Principles of Quantum Mechanics, Plenum Press.
Section 1.10.
Post date: 6 Feb 2017.
Yet another form of the Dirac delta function is as the limit of a Gaussian
integral. We start with

1 0 2 /∆2
g∆ x − x0 = e−(x−x )

1/2
(1)
2
(π∆ )
If ∆2 is real and positive, we have
ˆ ∞
1 0 2 /∆2
1/2
e−(x−x ) dx = 1 (2)
(π∆2 ) −∞

Thus the area under the curve is always 1, for any real value of ∆2 . Now
as ∆2 → 0 the exponential becomes zero except when x = x0 . The factor
1/2
1/ π∆2 tends to infinity as ∆2 → 0, but the exponential always tends
to zero faster than any power of ∆, so g∆ (x − x0 ) tends to zero everywhere
except at x = x0 . Thus it satisfies the requirements of a delta function: it is
zero everywhere except when x − x0 = 0 and has an integral of 1. Thus

lim g∆ x − x0 = δ x − x0
 
(3)
∆→0
However, if we plug the integral into Maple without any restrictions on
∆2 , it informs us that the integral is still 1 even if ∆2 is pure imaginary,
provided that the imaginary number is positive, that is, we can write ∆2 =
iβ 2 for real β. Thus it would appear that g∆ still gives a delta function in
the limit ∆2 → 0 even if ∆2 is a positive imaginary number.
Shankar provides a rationale for this in his footnote to equation 1.10.19.
In terms of β we can integrate some smooth function f (x0 ) multiplied by
g∆ over a region that includes x0 = x.
ˆ ∞
1 0 2 /β 2
ei(x−x ) f x0 dx

1/2
(4)
(πiβ 2 ) −∞
1
DIRAC DELTA FUNCTION AS LIMIT OF A GAUSSIAN INTEGRAL 2

As β 2 → 0, the exponent becomes a very large positive imaginary num-


ber everywhere except at x = x0 , so the exponential oscillates very rapidly.
Provided that f (x0 ) doesn’t vary as rapidly, the integral will contain equal
positive and negative contributions everywhere except at x = x0 so in the
limit of β 2 = 0, only the point x = x0 contributes, which means we can pull
f (x) out of the integral and get
ˆ ∞
1 i(x−x0 )2 /β 2 0

lim e f x dx = f (x) (5)
β 2 →0 (πiβ 2 )1/2 −∞

Thus 3 is valid for all real ∆ and for ∆2 positive imaginary.


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