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arXiv:0705.2868 · Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical

A non-Hermitian oscillator Hamiltonian and su(1,1): a way towards generalizations

C Quesne

Published Jul 12, 2007• 34 citations
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Abstract

The family of metric operators, constructed by Musumbu et al ( 2007 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 40 F75 ), for a harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian augmented by a non-Hermitian -symmetric part, is re-examined in the light of an su(1,1) approach. An alternative derivation, only relying on properties of su(1,1) generators, is proposed. Being independent of the realization considered for the latter, it opens the way towards the construction of generalized non-Hermitian (not necessarily -symmetric) oscillator Hamiltonians related by similarity to Hermitian ones. Some examples of them are reviewed.

DOI
10.1088/1751-8113/40/30/f07

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The family of metric operators, constructed by Musumbu et al ( 2007 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 40 F75 ), for a harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian augmented by a non-Hermitian -symmetric part, is re-examined in the light of an su(1,1) approach. An alternative derivation, only relying on properties of su(1,1) generators, is proposed. Being independent of the realization considered for the latter, it opens the way towards the construction of generalized non-Hermitian (not necessarily -symmetric) oscillator Hamiltonians related by similarity to Hermitian ones. Some examples of them are reviewed.
The family of metric operators, constructed by Musumbu et al (2007 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 40 F75), for a harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian augmented by a non-Hermitian PT-symmetric part, is re-examined in the light of an su(1,1) approach. An alternative derivation, only relying on properties of su(1,1) generators, is proposed. Being independent of the realization considered for the latter, it opens the way towards the construction of generalized non-Hermitian (not necessarily PT-symmetric) oscillator Hamiltonians related by similarity to Hermitian ones. Some examples of them are reviewed. Short title: Non-Hermitian oscillator Hamiltonian and su(1,1)
The family of metric operators, constructed by Musumbu et al (2007 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 40 F75), for Swanson’s PT-symmetric Hamiltonian, is re-examined in the light of an su(1,1) approach. An alternative derivation, only relying on properties of su(1,1) generators, is proposed. Being independent of the realization considered for the latter, it opens the way towards the construction of generalized Swanson’s non-Hermitian (not necessarily PT-symmetric) Hamiltonians related by similarity to Hermitian ones. Some examples of them are reviewed. Short title: Swanson’s non-Hermitian Hamiltonian and su(1,1)
The harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian, when augmented by a non-Hermitian -symmetric part, can be transformed into a Hermitian Hamiltonian. This is achieved by introducing a metric which, in general, renders other observables such as the usual momentum or position as non-Hermitian operators. The metric depends on one real parameter, the full range of which is investigated. The explicit functional dependence of the metric and each associated Hamiltonian is given. A specific choice of this parameter determines a specific combination of position and momentum as being an observable; this can be in particular either standard position or momentum, but not both simultaneously. Singularities of the metric are explored and their removability is investigated. The physical significance of these findings is discussed.
Most recently it has been observed e.g. by Bender and Klevansky (arXiv:0905.4673 [hep-th]) that the C-operator related to a PT-symmetric non-Hermitian Hamilton operator is not unique. Moreover it has been remarked by Shi and Sun (arXiv:0905.1771 [hep-th]) very recently that there seems to exist a well defined inner product in the context of the Hamilton operator of the PT-symmetric non-Hermitian Lee model yielding a different C-operator as compared to the one previously derived by Bender et al.. The puzzling observations of both manuscripts are reconciled and explained in the present manuscript as follows: the actual form of the metric operator (and the induced C-operator) related to some non-Hermitian Hamilton operator constructed along the lines of Shi and Su depends on the chosen normalization of the left and right eigenvectors of the Hamilton operator under consideration and is therefore ambiguous. For a specific PT-symmetric 2x2-matrix Hamilton operator it is shown that - by a suitable choice of the norm of its eigenvectors - the metric operator yielding a positive semi-definite inner product can be made even independent of the parameters of the considered Hamilton operator. This surprising feature makes in turn the obtained metric operator rather unique and attractive. For later convenience the metric operator for the Bosonic and Fermionic (anti)causal harmonic oscillator is derived.
A class of non-Hermitian quadratic su (2) Hamiltonians having an anti-linear symmetry is constructed. This is achieved by analysing the possible symmetries of such systems in terms of automorphisms of the algebra. In fact, different realizations for this type of symmetry are obtained, including the natural occurrence of charge conjugation together with parity and time reversal. Once specified, the underlying anti-linear symmetry of the Hamiltonian, the former, if unbroken, leads to a purely real spectrum and the latter can be mapped to a Hermitian counterpart by, amongst other possibilities, a similarity transformation. Here, Lie-algebraic methods which were used to investigate the generalized Swanson Hamiltonian ( Assis and Fring 2009 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor . 42 015203 ) are employed to identify the class of quadratic Hamiltonians that allow for such a mapping to the Hermitian counterpart. Whereas for the linear su (2) system, every Hamiltonian of this type can be mapped to a Hermitian counterpart by a transformation which is itself an exponential of a linear combination of su (2) generators, the situation is more complicated for quadratic Hamiltonians. Therefore, the possibility of more elaborate similarity transformations, including quadratic exponents, is also explored in detail. The existence of finite-dimensional representations for the su (2) Hamiltonian, as opposed to the su (1, 1) studied before, allows for comparison with explicit diagonalization results for finite matrices. Finally, the similarity transformations constructed are compared with the analogue of Swanson's method for exact diagonalization of the problem, establishing a simple relation between both approaches.