Kowalevski top in quantum mechanics (Q2442345)

The author of this interesting paper considers the mathematical model of Kowalevski top concerning both the classical mechanics case and quantum case. In the classical case this dynamical system is integrable. Introduce a space-fixed frame \((x, y, z)\), and denote the unit vectors along the axes by (\(\mathbf e_x,\mathbf e_y,\mathbf e_z\)). The Euler equations in the body-fixed frame are \( d\mathbf{J}/dt= \text\textbf{J}\times \omega + \text\textbf{N} \), where \(\omega =(p,q,r)\) is the angular velocity vector; \(\mathbf{N}\) is the torque of the gravitational force \(Mg\), i.e. \(\mathbf{N}=-Mg\text\textbf{r}_G\times\text\textbf{e}_z\); \(\mathbf{J} = (J_1,J_2,J_3)\) is the angular momentum of the rigid body, and \(\mathbf{r}_G\) is the coordinate of the center of mass. In order to calculate the orbits the author introduces canonical coordinates. The Euler angles are \(\Omega =(\alpha ,\beta ,\gamma )\) (\(0\leq \alpha ,\gamma <2\pi ; \;0\leq\beta\leq \pi\)). Note that the dynamical variables are direction-cosines \(\gamma =(\gamma_1,\gamma_2,\gamma_3)\), and then the time evolution of \(\gamma \) may represent as a system of differential equations: \(\dot{\mathbf{e}}_z+ \omega\times\mathbf{e}_z=0\). The Hamiltonian in this classical case takes the form \(H=\displaystyle\frac{1}{4}\bigl(J_1^2+J_2^2+2J_3^2\bigr)+c_0\gamma_1\), and using the canonical angular momentum \(\mathbf{p}_{\Omega} =(p_{\alpha }, p_{\beta },p_{\gamma })\) a classical Hamilton system is obtained. It is known that \(p_{\alpha }\) is a constant of motion since the gravitational field is parallel to the \(z\)-axis. Here there exists an integral of motion \(K\) called the Kowalevski constant. The above stated dynamical system is characterised by certain symmetries and conserved quantities as energy \(h\), angular momentum \(-l\), length of direction cosine, Kowalevski constant \(K\). The latter has the form: \(K=(p^2-q^2-c_0\gamma_1)^2+(2pq-c_0\gamma_2)^2\). The classical orbits are represented by hyperelliptic integrals on a Riemann surface with genus \(g=2\). The structure of the invariant tori as well as the critical bifurcation set is discussed. Furthermore, the dynamical variables are canonically transformed to action-angle variables by the known Liouville's theorem. The action integrals are calculated numerically. We note that the symmetric properties are used further for a classification of the quantum states of the quantum version of Kowalevski top. The semiclassical quantization is carried out by Einstein-Brillouin-Keller (EBK) formulation. The semiclassical quantum energy is represented by Maslov index, that is the number of intersection points of a curve on the invariant torus and a caustic. Here the invariant torus is \(2\)-dimensional manifold in \(4\)-dimensional phase space. The second part of the paper is devoted to the quantum Kowalevski top. The main quantum operators as the Hamiltonian \(\hat{H}\) and Kowalevski operator \(\hat{K}\) are given along with their eigenvalues and eigenfunctions. It seems the quantum spectra here is of great interest for the reader. The quantum states are labeled by the semiclassical quantum numbers. The method of direct diagonalization of the Hamiltonian to the quantum case is applied, and the quantum spectra are analysed as well. An important result is that the semiclassical spectra are close to the exact values. The relations of the symmetries with the semiclassical quantum numbers are discussed as well. The quantum correction term in the Kowalevski operator is estimated. The author considers special states, such that the correction term entirely contributes to the eigenvalue of the Kowalevski operator in the large \(\hbar \) limit.