The quantumn-body problem in dimensiond⩾n– 1: ground state

Abstract: We employ generalized Euler coordinates for the

n

body system in

d g e q n - 1

dimensional space, which consists of the centre-of-mass vector, relative (mutual), mass-independent distances

r_{i j}

and angles as remaining coordinates. We prove that the kinetic energy of the quantum

n

-body problem for

d g e q n - 1

can be written as the sum of three terms: (i) kinetic energy of centre-of-mass, (ii) the second order differential operator

D e l t a_{r a d}

which depends on relative distances alone and (iii) the differential operator

O m e g a

which annihilates any angle-independent function. The operator

D e l t a_{r a d}

has a large reflection symmetry group

Z_{2}^{o p l u s f r a c n (n - 1) 2}

and in

h o_{i j} = r_{i j}^{2}

variables is an algebraic operator, which can be written in terms of generators of their {it hidden} algebra

s l (f r a c n (n - 1) 2 + 1, R)

. Thus,

D e l t a_{r a d}

makes sense of the Hamiltonian of a quantum Euler-Arnold

s l (f r a c n (n - 1) 2 + 1, R)

top in a constant magnetic field. It is conjectured that for any

n

, the similarity-transformed

D e l t a_{r a d}

is the Laplace-Beltrami operator plus (effective) potential; thus, it describes a

f r a c n (n - 1) 2

-dimensional quantum particle in curved space. This was verified for

n = 2, 3, 4

. After de-quantization the similarity-transformed

D e l t a_{r a d}

becomes the Hamiltonian of the classical top with variable tensor of inertia in an external potential. This approach allows a reduction of the

d n

-dimensional spectral problem to a

f r a c n (n - 1) 2

-dimensional spectral problem if the eigenfunctions depend only on relative distances. We prove that the ground state function of the

n

body problem depends on relative distances alone.

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