Shift operators are obtained for a Dirac oscillator. These operators and other algebraic methods are used to determine energy eigenvalues and eigenkets, expectation values, matrix elements, and coordinate-space wave functions.
An algebraic (representation-independent) analysis is presented for the Dirac oscillator in an angular momentum basis. The analysis is based on shift operators for energy and angular momentum, and it is similar to that for a non-relativistic isotropic harmonic oscillator. The shift operators generate all the eigenkets of the Dirac oscillator from a 'vacuum' ket. The shift operations yield energy eigenvalues and certain matrix elements. The relationship to the factorization method is discussed.
Abstract In both classical and quantum physics the harmonic oscillator is one of the most important physical systems [1–4]. Furthermore, because of the simplicity and symmetry of the Hamiltonian operator, the quantum mechanical oscillator is particularly suited to analysis by abstract operator methods. For this reason the study of the one dimensional oscillator is a useful introduction to the application of operator methods in quantum mechanics. In Sections 2.1–2.4 we use these methods to determine energy eigenvalues and eigenkets, and matrix elements; the analysis is extended to isotropic multidimensional oscillators in Section 2.10. Quasiclassical states of the oscillator are discussed in Section 2.5. In Section 2.6 shift operators are used to calculate wave functions. In Sections 2.7–2.11 we discuss some applications of the theory of the oscillator.
We present a full algebraic derivation of the wavefunctions of a simple harmonic oscillator. This derivation illustrates the abstract approach to the simple harmonic oscillator by completing the derivation of the coordinate-space or momentum-space wavefunctions from the energy eigenvectors. It is simple to incorporate into the undergraduate and graduate curricula. We provide a summary of the history of operator-based methods as they are applied to the simple harmonic oscillator. We present the derivation of the energy eigenvectors along the lines of the standard approach that was first presented by Dirac in 1947 (and is modified slightly here in the spirit of the Schrödinger factorization method). We supplement it by employing the appropriate translation operator to determine the coordinate-space and momentum-space wavefunctions algebraically, without any derivatives.
A quantum state corresponds to a specific wave function. We adopt a new mathematical method [1] to improve Dirac's ladder operator method. A set of orthonormal wave functions will be used to associate the operator with the square matrix corresponding to it. These allow us to determine the matrix elements by using the operator relations without having to know the specific wave functions. As a result, we can get the direct results of matrix mechanics and wave mechanics on one-dimensional Harmonic oscillator and their descriptions will be also unified.
Abstract Quantum mechanical problems capable of exact solution are traditionally solved in a few instances only (such as the harmonic oscillator and angular momentum) by operator methods, but mainly by means of Schrodinger's wave mechanics. The present volume shows that a large range of one- and three-dimensional problems, including certain relativistic ones, are solvable by algebraic, representation-independent methods using commutation relations, shift operators, the virial, hypervirial, and Hellman-Feyman theorems. Applications of these operator methods to the calculation of eigenvalues, matrix elements, and wavefunctions are discussed in detail. This book is an introduction to the use of operator methods in quantum mechanics and also a reference work with numerous problmes solved. It is suitable for use by students of intermediate quantum mechanics and also more advanced postgraduate students who wish to study the algebraic method of solving quantum mechanical problems.