Quantum Realization of the Wallis Formula

TL;DR

This paper derives the Wallis formula for pi using quantum mechanics applied to two solvable radial systems, showing how their properties lead to the classical formula in the large-angular-momentum limit.

Contribution

It provides a unified quantum-mechanical derivation of the Wallis formula from two specific radial quantum systems, connecting quantum states to a classical mathematical constant.

Findings

Quantum states localize on thin shells or annuli at high angular momentum.

The reciprocal observable Q approaches 1 in the large-angular-momentum limit.

Finite Wallis products are linked to the quantum states' properties.

Abstract

We present a unified quantum-mechanical derivation of the Wallis formula from two solvable radial systems: the circular states of the three-dimensional isotropic harmonic oscillator and the lowest-radial-branch states of the planar Fock--Darwin problem, including the lowest Landau level sector. In both cases, the radial probability density has the exact form $P(r)\propto r^\nu e^{-\lambda r^2}$, which yields the scale-independent reciprocal observable $Q=\langle r\rangle\langle r^{-1}\rangle$. The two systems realize the even and odd half-integer Gamma-function branches of the same moment formula, so that the associated finite Wallis partial products are determined by $Q$ in one case and by $Q^{-1}$ in the other. In the large-angular-momentum regime, the corresponding states become localized on a thin spherical shell or a narrow annulus, with vanishing relative radial width, so that $Q\to1$ and both finite-product representations reduce to the Wallis formula for $\pi$.