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Zeitschrift für Naturforschung A

Eine Lösungstheorie für das quantenmechanische Vier-Körper-Problem

W Büttner, H. Ruder

Published Aug 1, 1969• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract A system of 4 point masses (without spin) is considered. The potential energy is assumed to be a function of the distances between the particles only. It is possible to express the kinetic energy relative to the center of mass as the kinetic energy of 3 "reduced" masses. The different possibilities for that procedure are discussed for systems with an arbitrary number of particles. The positions of the 3 reduced masses are described by 9 coordinates. 6 of them, the "internal" coordinates, are needed to determine the internal structure of the system, and 3, the "external" coordinates, for its orientation in space. The classical Hamiltonian in such a set of coordinates is derived. In a first step the Hamiltonian is expressed in terms of linear and angular momenta. Then these quantities are determined as functions of the coordinates and the conjugate momenta by infinitesimal trans-formations. From the classical Hamiltonian we get the quantum mechanical one by the well-known translation rule. It can be expressed in terms of the linear and angular momentum operators quite analogous to the classical case. For the solution of the time-independent Schrödinger equation the rotational symmetry of the system is used. The wave function is expanded in terms of the eigenfunctions of the total angular momentum. This leads to a system of coupled differential equations for the expansion-coefficients which depend on the 6 internal coordinates only. The further symmetries of the system (reflection and particle exchange) appear in symmetry properties of these functions. Differences and similarities in the solution theory for the 4-body-problem with respect to the 3-body-problem are discussed.

DOI
10.1515/zna-1969-0801

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•Apr 30, 2021•0 citations
Abstract A system of 4 point masses (without spin) is considered. The potential energy is assumed to be a function of the distances between the particles only. It is possible to express the kinetic energy relative to the center of mass as the kinetic energy of 3 "reduced" masses. The different possibilities for that procedure are discussed for systems with an arbitrary number of particles. The positions of the 3 reduced masses are described by 9 coordinates. 6 of them, the "internal" coordinates, are needed to determine the internal structure of the system, and 3, the "external" coordinates, for its orientation in space. The classical Hamiltonian in such a set of coordinates is derived. In a first step the Hamiltonian is expressed in terms of linear and angular momenta. Then these quantities are determined as functions of the coordinates and the conjugate momenta by infinitesimal trans-formations. From the classical Hamiltonian we get the quantum mechanical one by the well-known translation rule. It can be expressed in terms of the linear and angular momentum operators quite analogous to the classical case. For the solution of the time-independent Schrödinger equation the rotational symmetry of the system is used. The wave function is expanded in terms of the eigenfunctions of the total angular momentum. This leads to a system of coupled differential equations for the expansion-coefficients which depend on the 6 internal coordinates only. The further symmetries of the system (reflection and particle exchange) appear in symmetry properties of these functions. Differences and similarities in the solution theory for the 4-body-problem with respect to the 3-body-problem are discussed.
Abstract We employ generalized Euler coordinates for the n body system in dimensional space, which consists of the centre-of-mass vector, relative (mutual) mass-independent distances r ij and angles as remaining coordinates. We prove that the kinetic energy of the quantum n -body problem for can be written as the sum of three terms: (i) kinetic energy of centre-of-mass, (ii) the second order differential operator which depends on relative distances alone and (iii) the differential operator which annihilates any angle-independent function. The operator has a large reflection symmetry group and in variables is an algebraic operator, which can be written in terms of generators of the hidden algebra . Thus, makes sense of the Hamiltonian of a quantum Euler–Arnold top in a constant magnetic field. It is conjectured that for any n , the similarity-transformed is the Laplace–Beltrami operator plus (effective) potential; thus, it describes a -dimensional quantum particle in curved space. This was verified for . After de-quantization the similarity-transformed becomes the Hamiltonian of the classical top with variable tensor of inertia in an external potential. This approach allows a reduction of the dn -dimensional spectral problem to a -dimensional spectral problem if the eigenfunctions depend only on relative distances. We prove that the ground state function of the n body problem depends on relative distances alone.
The global rotational degrees of freedom in the Schr\"odinger equation for an N-body system are completely separated from the internal ones. After removing the motion of the center of mass, we find a complete set of (2l+1)(2\mathcal{l}+1)(2l+1) independent base functions with angular momentum l.\mathcal{l}.l. These are homogeneous polynomials in the components of the coordinate vectors and the solutions of the Laplace equation, where the Euler angles do not appear explicitly. Any function with given angular momentum and given parity in the system can be expanded with respect to the base functions, where the coefficients are the functions of the internal variables. With the right choice of the base functions and the internal variables, we explicitly establish the equations for those functions. Only $(3N\ensuremath{-}6)$ internal variables are involved both in the functions and in the equations. The permutation symmetry of the wave functions for identical particles is discussed.
In quantum mechanics, as well as in classical mechanics, the number of variables involved in the equations of motion may be reduced by utilizing the constants of motion of the system. For a set of N particles moving in a field-free space there are six integrals if N is greater than two. These correspond to the laws of conservation of linear and of angular momentum. It is the purpose of this paper to eliminate the coordinates of rotation and of translation of the total system from the Schrodinger equation and to obtain a new set of differential equations involving only 3N-6 variables.1
Given an isolated system of either free or interacting particles and the associated realization of the ten conserved Poincaré generators its total conserved time-like 4-momentum defines its inertial rest-frame as the 3+1 splitting whose space-like 3-spaces (named Wigner 3-spaces) are orthogonal to it and whose inertial observer is the Fokker–Pryce 4-center of inertia. There is a discussion of the problem of the relativistic center of mass based on the fact that the 4-center functions “only” of the Poincaré generators of the isolated system are the following three non-local quantities: the non-canonical covariant Fokker–Pryce 4-center of inertia, the canonical non-covariant Newton–Wigner 4-center of mass and the non-canonical non-covariant Mőller 4-center of energy. At the Hamiltonian level one is able to express the canonical world-lines of the particles and their momenta in terms of the Jacobi variables of the external Newton–Wigner center of mass (a non-local non-covariant non-measurable quantity) and of Wigner-covariant relative 3-coordinates and 3-momenta inside the Wigner 3-spaces. This solves the problem of the elimination of relative times in relativistic bound states and to formulate a consistent Wigner-covariant relativistic quantum mechanics of point particles. The non-relativistic limit gives the Hamilton–Jacobi description of the system after the separation of Newtonian center of mass. Finally there is the definition of the non-inertial rest-frames whose 3-spaces are orthogonal to the total 4-momentum of the isolated system at spatial infinity.
The most general transformations of coordinates that allow for the exact separation of the kinetic energy operator of a quantum many-body system into total center of mass kinetic energy and internal kinetic energy are found and discussed. It is found (i) that the suitable transformations, depending on the number of particles, have a certain number of free parameters and this allows for the generalization of the Jacobi coordinates to a much larger class of coordinates with the same properties and (ii) that there is a new, uncommon, additive group structure hidden in the transformation matrices that is connected to certain geometric properties of the set of coordinates.
Abstract In this chapter, we go to three dimensions in space and look at the solution of the time independent Schrödinger equation for the hydrogen atom. The Hamiltonian is then the kinetic energy plus the potential energy due to the Coulomb coupling between the positively charged nucleus and the electron. We construct the angular momentum operator and find that the partial differential equation for the angular momentum eigenfunctions of the spherical coordinates θ,ϕ is the same as the angular part of the ∇2 operator in spherical coordinates. The angular momentum eigenfunctions are the spherical harmonics, with two quantum numbers, l and m, and the solution to the radial part of the Hamiltonian including the Coulomb potential are Laguerre polynomials with one quantum number, called the principle quantum number, n. The hydrogen wave function is the product of a Laguerre polynomial and a spherical harmonic with three quantum numbers. Since these are two- and three-dimensional functions for angular momentum and hydrogen respectively, they are best understood in a series of plots. The chapter concludes by giving the historical letter names to specific orbitals, since they continue to be used today.