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Journal of Mathematical Physics

General techniques for single and coupled quantum anharmonic oscillators

Francis R. Halpern

Published Dec 1, 1975• 4 citations

Abstract

Matrix mechanic methods are used to find approximate equations and solutions for quantum anharmonic oscillator problems. A series of hypotheses are introduced that truncate and partially decouple the infinite set of coupled equations that specify the problem in the matrix mechanics formulation. The dependent variables or unknowns in these equations are the matrix elements of the coordinate and momentum operators. The independent variables are the matrix indices and coupling strengths. The equations themselves specify that the off diagonal matrix elements of the Hamiltonian and the commutators expressed in terms of the unknowns vanish and that the diagonal commutator matrix elements vanish except for canonical pairs in which case they are equal to −ih/. The truncation and decoupling hypotheses offer an orderly procedure for dealing approximately with the vast array of equations of the exact problems. Only the leading behavior of the coordinate and momentum operator matrix elements is found in terms of the matrix indices and coupling parameters. Although general techniques are presented to find the equations, the solutions discussed and the applications are brief extensions of problems that have already been treated.

DOI: 10.1063/1.522488

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Matrix mechanic methods are used to find approximate equations and solutions for quantum anharmonic oscillator problems. A series of hypotheses are introduced that truncate and partially decouple the infinite set of coupled equations that specify the problem in the matrix mechanics formulation. The dependent variables or unknowns in these equations are the matrix elements of the coordinate and momentum operators. The independent variables are the matrix indices and coupling strengths. The equations themselves specify that the off diagonal matrix elements of the Hamiltonian and the commutators expressed in terms of the unknowns vanish and that the diagonal commutator matrix elements vanish except for canonical pairs in which case they are equal to −ih/. The truncation and decoupling hypotheses offer an orderly procedure for dealing approximately with the vast array of equations of the exact problems. Only the leading behavior of the coordinate and momentum operator matrix elements is found in terms of the matrix indices and coupling parameters. Although general techniques are presented to find the equations, the solutions discussed and the applications are brief extensions of problems that have already been treated.

For an anharmonic oscillator, it follows from the number of zeros of the exact wave functions as functions of the quantum number

n

that the matrix elements $〈n|x|{n}^{\ensuremath{'}}〉$ and $〈n|p|{n}^{\ensuremath{'}}〉$ should be rapidly decreasing functions of $|n\ensuremath{-}{n}^{\ensuremath{'}}|$. Matrix elements of polynomials in

x

and

p

should therefore be well approximated by a finite number of terms in their sum-rule decomposition. From the matrix elements of the equations of motion for

x

and for

p

and of the commutator

|x,p|

, one thereby obtains closed sets of nonlinear algebraic equations to characterize subspaces of the Hilbert space of exact eigenfunctions. The approximations are also derived from a novel variational principle, and numerous variant approximation schemes are suggested. Essentially exact numerical results are obtained and compared with previous work. The broad applicability of the techniques is emphasized.

This is an investigation of an anharmonic oscillator characterized by the potential (ω02/ 2) q2 + λ′ q4. By using the exact relations obtained by evaluating ≪i|[H, O]∓|j > where O is an arbitrary operator, H is our total Hamiltonian and |i > and |j > are exact eigenstates of H, we derive an exact recurrence formula. This formula allows us to express τ-functions with a higher power of the variables through τ-functions with a lower power of the variables and energy eigenvalues. In this way we derive several exact relations, which are, in a sense, generalizations of the virial theorem and sum rules (Eqs. (4·5), (4·6) and (5·4)). These exact relations are the central equaions of this paper. On the basis of these exact relations we propose our “nearest neighbour level” (N. N. L) approximation, which seems to provide a good approximation scheme. We can also use our exact relations to test the validity of various approximation methods, and as an example, we discuss the “New-Tamm-Dancoff” (N. T. D)-type of approximation in detail.

The present review is devoted to the study of certain aspects of anharmonic, time-dependent and damped oscillator(s) system using different theoretical techniques. A theoretical understanding of these systems is important for application in many problems in physics, mechanics and other fields. We discuss in detail the difficulties in the theoretical analysis of the problem. In particular we discuss here the regular, well-behaved perturbative solution, the large quantum number behaviour of anharmonic oscillator(s) using the technique of coherent states, exact solution of quantum anharmonic oscillators, the electromagnetic radiation emitted by a charged particle executing damped anharmonic oscillator motion using Krylov-Bogoliubov approximation method, use of invariants to obtain solution and coherent states of time-dependent oscillator(s), the derivation of perturbative frequencies of a damped coupled anharmonic oscillators system using suitable canonical transformation in the framework of Hamilton-Jacobi formalism and the quantisation and construction of coherent states of a damped oscillator using time-dependent operators.

Matrices of dynamical variables of the one-dimensional harmonic oscillator are calculated by a new semiclassical method formulated by More and Warren. The results are semiclassical matrices Xn, m, Pn, m, etc., which i) exactly obey selection rules for zero matrix-elements, ii) are very accurate, circa 1 %, for nonzero matrix-elements, iii) which diagonalize the Hamiltonian H, and iv) which exactly satisfy the Heisenberg commutation relations and equations of motion. These statements are true for matrix-elements Fn, m with m ≽ n. The results show that most of the quantum physics is contained in the extended semiclassical theory.