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International Journal of Modern Physics A

Quantum theory of a non-Hermitian time-dependent forced harmonic oscillator having 𝒫𝒯 symmetry

I. A. Pedrosa, B. F. Ramos, K. Bakke, Alberes Lopes de Lima

Published Oct 30, 2019• 7 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We discuss the quantum theory of an harmonic oscillator with time-dependent mass and frequency submitted to action of a complex time-dependent linear potential with [Formula: see text] symmetry. Combining the Lewis and Riesenfeld approach to time-dependent non-Hermitian Hamiltonians having [Formula: see text] symmetry and linear invariants, we solve the time-dependent Schrödinger equation for this problem and use the corresponding quantum states to construct a Gaussian wave packet solution. We show that the shape of this wave packet does not depend on the driving force. Afterwards, using this wave packet state, we calculate the expectation values of the position and momentum, their fluctuations and the associated uncertainty product. We find that these expectation values are complex numbers and as a consequence the position and momentum operators are not physical observables and the uncertainty product is physically unacceptable.

DOI
10.1142/s0217751x19501872

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Comment on: Quantum theory of a non-Hermitian time-dependent forced harmonic oscillator having 𝒫𝒯 symmetry

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We discuss the quantum theory of an harmonic oscillator with time-dependent mass and frequency submitted to action of a complex time-dependent linear potential with [Formula: see text] symmetry. Combining the Lewis and Riesenfeld approach to time-dependent non-Hermitian Hamiltonians having [Formula: see text] symmetry and linear invariants, we solve the time-dependent Schrödinger equation for this problem and use the corresponding quantum states to construct a Gaussian wave packet solution. We show that the shape of this wave packet does not depend on the driving force. Afterwards, using this wave packet state, we calculate the expectation values of the position and momentum, their fluctuations and the associated uncertainty product. We find that these expectation values are complex numbers and as a consequence the position and momentum operators are not physical observables and the uncertainty product is physically unacceptable.
Abstract With the aim to solve the time-dependent Schrödinger equation associated to a time-dependent non-Hermitian Hamiltonian, we introduce a unitary transformation that maps the Hamiltonian to a time-independent   -symmetric one. Consequently, the solution of time-dependent Schrödinger equation becomes easily deduced and the evolution preserves the  ( t ) PT −inner product, where  ( t ) is a obtained from the charge conjugation operator  through a time dependent unitary transformation. Moreover, the expectation value of the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian in the  ( t ) PT normed states is guaranteed to be real. As an illustration, we present a specific quantum system given by a quantum oscillator with time-dependent mass subjected to a driving linear complex time-dependent potential.
Pedrosa et al.1 have recently used a [Formula: see text] symmetric linear invariant to study a unidimensional time-dependent [Formula: see text] symmetric harmonic oscillator with a complex time-dependent [Formula: see text] symmetric external force. We show in this comment that the normalization condition of the eigenfunctions of the invariant is not verified as claimed in Ref. 1. In order to obtain the normalization condition, we introduce a novel concept of the pseudoparity-time (pseudo-[Formula: see text]) symmetry.
We reexamine the general solution of a Schr\"odinger equation in the presence of a time-dependent linear potential in configuration space based on the Lewis-Riesenfeld framework. For comparison, we also solve the problem in momentum space and then Fourier transform the solution to get the general wave function. Appropriately choosing the weight function in the latter method, we can obtain the same wave function as the former method. It is found that a non-Hermitian time-dependent linear invariant can be used to obtain Gaussian-type wave-packet solutions of the time-dependent system. This operator is a specific linear combination of the initial momentum and initial position operators. This fact indicates that the constants of integration such as the initial position and initial momentum that determine the classical motion play important roles in the time-dependent quantum system. The eigenfunction of the linear invariant is interpreted as a wave packet with a ``center of mass'' moving along the classical trajectory, while the ratio between the coefficients of the initial position and initial momentum determines the width of the wave packet.
We investigate the quantum dynamics of a particle subjected to a linear potential using the Lewis--Riesenfeld invariant operator method. Starting from the time-dependent Schrödinger equation associated with a constant external force, we construct the most general Hermitian quadratic invariant and derive the corresponding coupled differential equations for its time-dependent coefficients. By means of an appropriate sequence of unitary transformations, the invariant operator is reduced to the form of a harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian. This reduction enables a clear classification of the system according to the sign of the conserved quantity ω2. Particular attention is devoted to the physically relevant case ω2 >0, which yields a discrete eigenspectrum. Explicit analytical expressions for the invariant coefficients, the displacement parameters, and the transformed wave functions are obtained. The resulting formalism provides an exact quantum description of a particle under a constant force and establishes a direct connection between invariant theory and harmonic oscillator quantization.
In this work we intend to study a class of time-dependent quantum systems with non-Hermitian Hamiltonians, particularly those whose Hermitian counterpart are important for the comprehension of posed problems in quantum optics and quantum chemistry, which consists of an oscillator with time-dependent mass and frequency under the action of a time-dependent imaginary potential. We obtain the propagator for a general timedependence of the parameters and the wave-functions are obtained explicitly for constant frequency and mass and a linear time-dependence in the potential. The wave-functions are used to obtain the expectation value of the Hamiltonian. Although not PT symmetric the case of study exhibits real values of energy.
We derive quantum solutions of a generalized inverted or repulsive harmonic oscillator with arbitrary time-dependent mass and frequency using the quantum invariant method and linear invariants, and write its wave functions in terms of solutions of a second-order ordinary differential equation that describes the amplitude of the damped classical inverted oscillator. Afterwards, we construct Gaussian wave packet solutions and calculate the fluctuations in coordinate and momentum, the associated uncertainty relation, and the quantum correlations between coordinate and momentum. As a particular case, we apply our general development to the generalized inverted Caldirola–Kanai oscillator.