A new look at the quantum mechanics of the harmonic oscillator
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Publication:5310280
Quantum optics (81V80) Applications of Lie groups to the sciences; explicit representations (22E70) Research exposition (monographs, survey articles) pertaining to quantum theory (81-02) Closed and approximate solutions to the Schrödinger, Dirac, Klein-Gordon and other equations of quantum mechanics (81Q05) Coherent states (81R30) Geometry and quantization, symplectic methods (81S10)
Abstract: Classically the Harmonic Oscillator (HO) is the generic example for the use of angle and action variables phi in R mod 2 pi and I > 0. But the symplectic transformation (phi,I) to (q,p) is singular for (q,p) = (0,0). Globally {(q,p)} has the structure of the plane R^2, but {(phi,I)} that of the punctured plane R^2 -(0,0). This implies qualitative differences for the QM of the two phase spaces: The quantizing group for the plane R^2 consists of the (centrally extended) translations generated by {q,p,1}, but the corresponding group for {(phi,I)} is SO(1,2) = Sp(2,R)/Z_2, (Sp(2,R): symplectic group of the plane), with Lie algebra basis {h_0 = I, h_1 = I cos phi, h_2 = - I sin phi}. In the QM for the (phi,I)-model the three h_j correspond to self-adjoint generators K_j, j=0,1,2, of irreducible unitary representations (positive discrete series) for SO(1,2) or one of its infinitely many covering groups, the Bargmann index k > 0 of which determines the ground state energy E (k, n=0) = hbar omega k of the (phi,I)-Hamiltonian H(K). For an m-fold covering the lowest possible value is k=1/m, which can be made arbitrarily small! The operators Q and P, now expressed as functions of the K_j, keep their usual properties, but the richer structure of the K_j quantum model of the HO is ``erased when passing to the simpler Q,P model! The (phi,I)-variant of the HO implies many experimental tests: Mulliken-type experiments for isotopic diatomic molecules, experiments with harmonic traps for atoms, ions and BE-condensates, with the (Landau) levels of charged particles in magnetic fields, with the propagation of light in vacuum, passing through electric or magnetic fields. Finally it leads to a new theoretical estimate for the quantum vacuum energy of fields and its relation to the cosmological constant.
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Cited in
(12)- Remarks about observables for the quantum mechanical harmonic oscillator
- Quantum dynamics of the classical harmonic oscillator
- Action-angle variables for dihedral systems on the circle
- Quantum harmonic oscillator presented in a nonorthodox approach
- scientific article; zbMATH DE number 929955 (Why is no real title available?)
- The $\mathfrak {su}(2)_\alpha $ Hahn oscillator and a discrete Fourier–Hahn transform
- scientific article; zbMATH DE number 773255 (Why is no real title available?)
- Quantum kinematics of the harmonic oscillator
- Quantum harmonic oscillator: an elementary derivation of the energy spectrum
- The Reasoning of Quantum Mechanics
- Remarks on the configuration space approach to spin-statistics
- The equally spaced energy levels of the quantum harmonic oscillator revisited: a back-to-front reconstruction of an \(n\)-body Hamiltonian
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