Applications of Self-Adjoint Extensions in Quantum Physics

Pavel Exner, Petr Šeba

David Krejčiřı́k

Felix Fischer, Daniel Burgarth, Davide Lonigro

We study a family of Jacobi operators in which the diagonal entries are multiplied by a coupling parameter $λ\geq0$. Under suitable conditions, the operator is self-adjoint for every $λ>0$, while the formal limit at $λ=0$ is a symmetric Jacobi operator admitting a one-parameter family of self-adjoint extensions. A central ingredient of our analysis is the derivation of uniform bounds for square-summable generalized eigenvectors in the small-$λ$ regime, which combines discrete WKB methods with Airy-function asymptotics. Using these estimates, we analyze the limiting behavior $λ\to0$ in the strong resolvent sense, proving that for every sequence $λ_j\to0$ one can extract a subsequence along which the corresponding Jacobi operators converge to some self-adjoint extension of the limiting operator; conversely, every such extension can be obtained in this way. We call this behavior an essentially singular limit, by analogy with essential singularities in complex analysis. As an application, we study higher-order squeezing operators arising in quantum optics. Using the connection with Jacobi operators, we show that when the relative strength of the free-field term tends to zero, different self-adjoint extensions of the squeezing operator are selected along different sequences. In particular, this limit does not single out a physically distinguished self-adjoint extension, but instead identifies a distinguished subclass of extensions compatible with the underlying symmetry.

Tajron Jurić

We are focused on the idea that observables in quantum physics are a bit more then just hermitian operators and that this is, in general, a “tricky business”. The origin of this idea comes from the fact that there is a subtle difference between symmetric, hermitian, and self-adjoint operators which are of immense importance in formulating Quantum Mechanics. The theory of self-adjoint extensions is presented through several physical examples and some emphasis is given on the physical implications and applications.

Guy Bonneau, Jacques Faraut, Galliano Valent A

For the example of the infinite well potential, we point out some paradoxes which are solved by a careful analysis of what is a truly self-adjoint operator. We then describe the self-adjoint extensions and their spectra for the momentum and the Hamiltonian operators in different settings. Additional physical requirements such as parity, time reversal, and positivity are used to restrict the large class of self-adjoint extensions of the Hamiltonian.