Answer to Question #88683 in Quantum Mechanics for Sridhar

Question

Degeneracy means
1) same energy different wave functions 2)different energies same wave functions 3)different energies different wave functions

Answer 1

According to the theory of quantum operators, the eigenvalue of an operator is said to be degenerate if it has more than one eigenvector (eigenfunction) corrsponding to it. In case of a Hamiltonian operator the energies are its eigenvalues and wave function are its eigenfunctions. Hence, the energy level is said to be degenerate if different linearly independent wave functions correspond to it.

Answer: 1) same energy different wave functions.