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arXiv:1912.02462 · Physics Letters A

No existence of the geometric potential for a Dirac fermion on a two-dimensional curved surface of revolution

Z.Q. Yang, X. Y. Zhou, Z. Li, Wenjie Du, Quanhui Liu

Published May 29, 2020• 4 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

For a free particle that moves non-relativistically on a curved surface, there are curvature-induced quantum potentials that significantly influence the surface quantum states. However, the experimental results in topological insulators, whether curved or not, indicate no evidence of such a potential for the relativistic particles constrained on the curved surface. Within the framework of Dirac quantization scheme, we demonstrate a general result that for a Dirac fermion on a two-dimensional curved surface of revolution, no curvature-induced quantum potential is permissible.

DOI
10.1016/j.physleta.2020.126604

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For a free particle that moves non-relativistically on a curved surface, there are curvature-induced quantum potentials that significantly influence the surface quantum states. However, the experimental results in topological insulators, whether curved or not, indicate no evidence of such a potential for the relativistic particles constrained on the curved surface. Within the framework of Dirac quantization scheme, we demonstrate a general result that for a Dirac fermion on a two-dimensional curved surface of revolution, no curvature-induced quantum potential is permissible.
Abstract Geometric momentum is the appropriate momentum for a particle constrained to move on a curved surface, which depends on the extrinsic curvature and leads to observable effects, and curvature-induced quantum potentials appear for a nonrelativistic free particle on the surface. In the context of multi-component quantum states, the geometric momentum should be rewritten as a generally covariant geometric momentum, which contains an additional term defined as the gauge potential. For a Dirac fermion constrained on a two-dimensional hypersurface, we derive the generally covariant geometric momentum, and demonstrate that no curvature-induced geometric potentials arise on a pseudosphere or a helical surface. The dynamical quantization conditions are verified to be effective in dealing with constrained systems on hypersurfaces, enabling the derivation of both the generally convariant geometric momentum and the geometric potential for a spin particle constrained on parametrically defined surfaces.
Abstract A fundamental problem regarding the Dirac quantization of a free particle on an ( ) curved hypersurface embedded in N flat space is the impossibility to give the same form of the curvature‐induced quantum potential, the geometric potential as commonly called, as that given by the Schrödinger equation method where the particle moves in a region confined by a thin‐layer sandwiching the surface. This problem is resolved by means of a previously proposed scheme that hypothesizes a simultaneous quantization of positions, momenta, and Hamiltonian, among which the operator‐ordering‐free section is identified and is then found sufficient to lead to the expected form of geometric potential.
We investigate how a localized curvature affects the dynamics of massless Dirac fermions in a curved surface. We consider a smooth bump with axial symmetry, adopting two specific geometric models, namely a Gaussian and a volcano-like bumps. By considering a minimal coupling between the spinor and the surface geometry, described by the vielbeins and the spin connection, we study the behavior of the wave function over the surface. By using appropriate numerical methods, we find a linear discrete energy spectrum for the Dirac fermions and its corresponding wavefunctions when the Fermi velocity is considered. It turns out that, since the curvature vanishes asymptotically, the electron states are free waves far from the bumps, but around the curved points, the wave function increases its probability density.
We derive the Schrödinger equation of a particle constrained to move on a rotating curved surface S. Using the thin-layer quantization scheme to confine the particle on S, and with a proper choice of gauge transformation for the wave function, we obtain the well-known geometric potential V g and an additive Coriolis-induced geometric potential in the co-rotational curvilinear coordinates. This novel effective potential, which is included in the surface Schrödinger equation and is coupled with the mean curvature of S, contains an imaginary part in the general case which gives rise to a non-Hermitian surface Hamiltonian. We find that the non-Hermitian term vanishes when S is a minimal surface or a revolution surface which is axially symmetric around the rolling axis.
The motion of a particle rigidly bounded to a surface is discussed, considering the Schr\"odinger equation of a free particle constrained to move, by the action of an external potential, in an infinitely thin sheet of the ordinary three-dimensional space. Contrary to what seems to be the general belief expressed in the literature, this limiting process gives a perfectly well-defined result, provided that we take some simple precautions in the definition of the potentials and wave functions. It can then be shown that the wave function splits into two parts: the normal part, which contains the infinite energies required by the uncertainty principle, and a tangent part which contains "surface potentials" depending both on the Gaussian and mean curvatures. An immediate consequence of these results is the existence of different quantum mechanical properties for two isometric surfaces, as can be seen from the bound state which appears along the edge of a folded (but not stretched) plane. The fact that this surface potential is not a bending invariant (cannot be expressed as a function of the components of the metric tensor and their derivatives) is also interesting from the more general point of view of the quantum mechanics in curved spaces, since it can never be obtained from the classical Lagrangian of an a priori constrained particle without substantial modifications in the usual quantization procedures. Similar calculations are also presented for the case of a particle bounded to a curve. The properties of the constraining spatial potential, necessary to a meaningful limiting process, are discussed in some detail, and, as expected, the resulting Schr\"odinger equation contains a "linear potential" which is a function of the curvature.
For a non-relativistic particle that freely moves on a curved surface, the fundamental commutation relations between positions and momenta are insufficient to uniquely determine the operator form of the momenta. With introduction of more commutation relations between positions and Hamiltonian and those between momenta and Hamiltonian, our recent sequential studies imply that the Cartesian system of coordinates is physically preferable, consistent with Dirac' observation. In present paper, we study quantization problem of the motion constrained on the two-dimensional sphere and develop a discriminant that can be used to show how the quantization within the intrinsic geometry is improper. Two kinds of parameterization of the spherical surface are explicitly invoked to investigate the quantization problem within the intrinsic geometry.