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International Journal of Geometric Methods in Modern Physics

A self-adjoint decomposition of the radial momentum operator

Quanhui Liu, Shifang Xiao

Published Dec 3, 2014• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

With acceptance of the Dirac's observation that the canonical quantization entails using Cartesian coordinates, we examine the operator erPr rather than Pr itself and demonstrate that there is a decomposition of erPr into a difference of two self-adjoint but noncommutative operators, in which one is the total momentum and another is the transverse one. This study renders the operator Pr indirectly measurable and physically meaningful, offering an explanation of why the mean value of Pr over a quantum mechanical state makes sense and supporting Dirac's claim that Pr "is real and is the true momentum conjugate to r".

DOI
10.1142/s0219887815500280

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With acceptance of the Dirac's observation that the canonical quantization entails using Cartesian coordinates, we examine the operator erPr rather than Pr itself and demonstrate that there is a decomposition of erPr into a difference of two self-adjoint but noncommutative operators, in which one is the total momentum and another is the transverse one. This study renders the operator Pr indirectly measurable and physically meaningful, offering an explanation of why the mean value of Pr over a quantum mechanical state makes sense and supporting Dirac's claim that Pr "is real and is the true momentum conjugate to r".
With acceptance of the Dirac's observation that the \textit{canonical quantization entails using Cartesian coordinates, }we examine the\textit{\ }% operator erPr\mathbf{e}_{r}P_{r}er​Pr​ rather than PrP_{r}Pr​ itself and demonstrate that there is a decomposition of erPr\mathbf{e}_{r}P_{r}er​Pr​ into two self-adjoint but non-commutative parts, in which one is the total momentum and another is the transverse one. This study renders the operator PrP_{r}Pr​ indirectly measurable and physically meaningful.
Based on (i) the spectral resolution definition of the momentum operator, (ii) the linearity of correspondence between physical observables and quantum Hermitian operators, (iii) the definition of conjugate coordinate-momentum variables in classical mechanics, and (iv) the invariance of the classical Hamiltonian to canonical transformations (transformations that change from one set of conjugate variables to another), we show that the $[\stackrel{\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}{x},\stackrel{\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}{p}]$ coordinate-momentum commutator must have the value ihihih where hhh is a real nonzero number (which we can identify with the experimentally determined $\ensuremath{\hbar}$). The results are then extended to include all generalized coordinates and their conjugate momenta as well as the Cartesian special-relativistic case.
For a particle moving on a half-line or in an interval the operator $\stackrel{\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}{p}=\ensuremath{-}i{\ensuremath{\partial}}_{x}$ is not self-adjoint and thus does not qualify as the physical momentum. Consequently canonical quantization based on $\stackrel{\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}{p}$ fails. Based upon an alternative concept for a self-adjoint momentum operator ${\stackrel{\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}{p}}_{R}$, we show that canonical quantization can indeed be implemented on the half-line and on an interval. Both the Hamiltonian $\stackrel{\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}{H}$ and the momentum operator ${\stackrel{\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}{p}}_{R}$ are endowed with self-adjoint extension parameters that characterize the corresponding domains $D(\stackrel{\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}{H})$ and $D({\stackrel{\ifmmode \hat{}\else \^{}\fi{}}{p}}_{R})$ in the Hilbert space. When one replaces Poisson brackets by commutators, one obtains meaningful results only if the corresponding operator domains are properly taken into account. The alternative concept for the momentum is used to describe the results of momentum measurements of a quantum mechanical particle that is reflected at impenetrable boundaries, either at the end of the half-line or at the two ends of an interval.
The radial momentum operator in quantum mechanics is usually obtained through canonical quantization of the (symmetrical form of the) classical radial momentum. We show that the well known connection between the Hamiltonian of a free particle and the radial momentum operator $\hat{H}=\hat{P}_{r}^2/2m+ L^2\hat{L}^2L^2}/2mr^{2}$ is true only in one or three dimensions. In general, an extra term of the form ℏ2(n−1)(n−3)/2m⋅4r2\hbar^{2}(n-1)(n-3)/ 2m \cdot 4r^{2}ℏ2(n−1)(n−3)/2m⋅4r2 has to be added to the Hamiltonian.
In quantum mechanics textbooks the momentum operator is defined in the Cartesian coordinates and rarely the form of the momentum operator in spherical polar coordinates is discussed. Consequently one always generalizes the Cartesian prescription to other coordinates and falls in a trap. In this work we introduce the difficulties one faces when the question of the momentum operator in spherical polar coordinate comes. We have tried to point out most of the elementary quantum mechanical results, related to the momentum operator, which has coordinate dependence. We explicitly calculate the momentum expectation values in various bound states and show that the expectation value really turns out to be zero, a consequence of the fact that the momentum expectation value is real. We comment briefly on the status of the angular variables in quantum mechanics and the problems related in interpreting them as dynamical variables. At the end, we calculate the Heisenberg's equation of motion for the radial component of the momentum for the Hydrogen atom.