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AIP conference proceedings

Analytically Solvable Quantum Hamiltonians and Relations to Orthogonal Polynomials

G. Regniers, Joris Van Der Jeugt, V. K. Dobrev

Published Jan 1, 2010• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Quantum systems consisting of a linear chain of n harmonic oscillators coupled by a quadratic nearest‐neighbour interaction are considered. We investigate when such a system is analytically solvable, in the sense that the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the interaction matrix have analytically closed expressions. This leads to a relation with Jacobi matrices of systems of discrete orthogonal polynomials. Our study is first performed in the case of canonical quantization. Then we consider these systems under Wigner quantization, leading to solutions in terms of representations of Lie superalgebras. Finally, we show how such analytically solvable Hamiltonians also play a role in another application, that of spin chains used as communication channels in quantum computing. In this context, the analytic solvability leads to closed form expressions for certain transition amplitudes.

DOI
10.1063/1.3460184

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Quantum systems consisting of a linear chain of n harmonic oscillators coupled by a quadratic nearest‐neighbour interaction are considered. We investigate when such a system is analytically solvable, in the sense that the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the interaction matrix have analytically closed expressions. This leads to a relation with Jacobi matrices of systems of discrete orthogonal polynomials. Our study is first performed in the case of canonical quantization. Then we consider these systems under Wigner quantization, leading to solutions in terms of representations of Lie superalgebras. Finally, we show how such analytically solvable Hamiltonians also play a role in another application, that of spin chains used as communication channels in quantum computing. In this context, the analytic solvability leads to closed form expressions for certain transition amplitudes.
We describe a quantum system consisting of a one-dimensional linear chain of n identical harmonic oscillators coupled by a nearest neighbor interaction. Two boundary conditions are taken into account: periodic boundary conditions (where the nth oscillator is coupled back to the first oscillator) and fixed wall boundary conditions (where the first oscillator and the nth oscillator are coupled to a fixed wall). The two systems are characterized by their Hamiltonian. For their quantization, we treat these systems as Wigner quantum systems (WQSs), allowing more solutions than just the canonical quantization solution. In this WQS approach, one is led to certain algebraic relations for operators (which are linear combinations of position and momentum operators) that should satisfy triple relations involving commutators and anti-commutators. These triple relations have a solution in terms of the Lie superalgebra gl(1|n). We study a particular class of gl(1|n) representations V(p), the so-called ladder representations. For these representations, we determine the spectrum of the Hamiltonian and of the position operators (for both types of boundary conditions). Furthermore, we compute the eigenvectors of the position operators in terms of stationary states. This leads to explicit expressions for position probabilities of the n oscillators in the chain. An analysis of the plots of such position probability distributions gives rise to some interesting observations. In particular, the physical behavior of the system as a WQS is very much in agreement with what one would expect from the classical case, except that all physical quantities (energy, position, and momentum of each oscillator) have a finite spectrum.
Abstract. We consider a quantum mechanical system consisting of a linear chain of harmonic oscillators coupled by a nearest neighbor interaction. The system configuration can be closed (periodic boundary conditions) or open (non-periodic case). We show that such systems can be considered as Wigner Quantum Systems (WQS), thus yielding extra solutions apart from the canonical solution. In particular, a class of WQS-solutions is given in terms of unitary representations of the Lie superalgebra gl(1|n). In order to determine physical properties of the new solutions, one needs to solve a number of interesting but difficult representation theoretical problems. We present these problems and their solution, and show how the new results yield attractive properties for the quantum system (energy spectrum, position probabilities, spacial properties). 1.
In a system of coupled harmonic oscillators, the interaction can be represented by a real, symmetric and positive definite interaction matrix.The quantization of a Hamiltonian describing such a system has been done in the canonical case.In this paper, we take a more general approach and look at the system as a Wigner quantum system.Hereby, one does not assume the canonical commutation relations, but instead one just requires the compatibility between the Hamilton and Heisenberg equations.Solutions of this problem are related to the Lie superalgebras gl(1|n) and osp(1|2n).We determine the spectrum of the considered Hamiltonian in specific representations of these Lie superalgebras and discuss the results in detail.We also make the connection with the well-known canonical case.
We consider a quantum system consisting of a one-dimensional chain of M identical harmonic oscillators with natural frequency ω, coupled by means of springs. Such systems have been studied before, and appear in various models. In this paper, we approach the system as a Wigner quantum system, not imposing the canonical commutation relations, but using instead weaker relations following from the compatibility of Hamilton’s equations and the Heisenberg equations. In such a setting, the quantum system allows solutions in a finite-dimensional Hilbert space, with a discrete spectrum for all physical operators. We show that a class of solutions can be obtained using generators of the Lie superalgebra gl(1∣M). Then we study – from a mathematical point of view – the properties and spectra of the physical operators in a class of unitary representations of gl(1∣M). These properties are both interesting and intriguing. In particular, we can give a complete analysis of the eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian and of the position and momentum operators (including multiplicities). We also study probability distributions of position operators when the quantum system is in a stationary state, and the effect of the position of one oscillator on the positions of the remaining oscillators in the chain.
In quantum mechanics, physical observables are represented by operators on a certain Hilbert space. The question of how such operators commute, has been a matter of discussion. In the standard perspective, the operators corresponding to the position and momentum of a system are assumed to satisfy the canonical commutation relations. It is known that these relations imply that the Hamilton and Heisenberg equations of motion are compatible as operator equations. However, Wigner showed that the inverse statement is not true. Therefore, it is a much weaker constraint to impose the compatibility of the equations of motion. For any physical system, this results in a set of compatibility conditions, which form the core of Wigner quantization. The key to finding operators that are subject to the compatibility conditions is provided by Lie superalgebras and their representations. Lie superalgebras can be defined as algebras generated by odd elements satisfying particular superbracket relations. Using these defining relations, Lie superalgebra generators can be found that obey the compatibility conditions. The Lie superalgebra elements act as operators on a vector space if we consider Lie superalgebra representations. Various physical systems are investigated in this thesis in the context of Wigner quantization. For each of these systems solutions are found in terms of Lie superalgebra generators, after which specific representations are examined. In such representations, the focus lies on determining particular physical properties of the system. Most of the studied systems are harmonic oscillator models. First, we examine a set-up of coupled harmonic oscillators, for which the interaction is represented by an interaction matrix. Then we focus on the angular momentum content of a 3N3N3N-dimensional harmonic oscillator. Finally, our attention goes to two one-dimensional systems, namely the free particle and the Berry-Keating-Connes Hamiltonian. The latter of these Hamiltonians is notorious for its possible connection with the Riemann hypothesis. All of the aforementioned Hamiltonians have been extensively investigated in the context of canonical quantization, so that our results can be compared to the well-known canonical case.
By using the properties of orthogonal polynomials, we present an exact unitary transformation that maps the Hamiltonian of a quantum system coupled linearly to a continuum of bosonic or fermionic modes to a Hamiltonian that describes a one-dimensional chain with only nearest-neighbor interactions. This analytical transformation predicts a simple set of relations between the parameters of the chain and the recurrence coefficients of the orthogonal polynomials used in the transformation and allows the chain parameters to be computed using numerically stable algorithms that have been developed to compute recurrence coefficients. We then prove some general properties of this chain system for a wide range of spectral functions and give examples drawn from physical systems where exact analytic expressions for the chain properties can be obtained. Crucially, the short-range interactions of the effective chain system permit these open-quantum systems to be efficiently simulated by the density matrix renormalization group methods.