Kohn's theorem, Larmor's equivalence principle and the Newton-Hooke group (Q550603)

The paper discusses the symmetries, both classical and quantum, of a non-relativistic system of charged particles, each with the same charge to mass ratio, moving in a magnetic field and harmonic trapping potential and subject to mutual interactions depending only on their separation. The assumption of equal charge to mass ratios gives rise to a sort of relativity principle in which the Galilei and Bargmann groups are deformed to the Newton-Hooke group. The action of this group on the non-relativistic space-time which is the analogue of Newton-Cartan space-time is described. This allows a group-theoretic interpretation of Kohn's theorem. Then, Larmor's theorem is used to show that the one-parameter family of deformations are all isomorphic. A ``relativistic'' description is given in terms of the null geodesics in a space-time admitting a null Killing vector field. As for applications, the obtained result might be expected to be relevant for Bose-Einstein condensates and the Gross-Pitaevskii equation.