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Physics Open

The classical Lenz vector and the two-dimensional quantum harmonic oscillator

Stefano Palmisano, Antonio Davide Polosa, R. Senese, Francesco Sciotti

Published Apr 8, 2020• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Both the two-dimensional harmonic oscillator and the Newton potential allow particular solutions for the orbits which are ellipses with center of attraction in the center, in the first case, and in one focus, in the second. The same complex map which allows to go from Kepler’s to Hooke’s orbits, and back, is used to transform the Lenz vector, defined for the Kepler orbit, into two conserved quantities for the harmonic motion. Upon quantization, the resulting operators, together with the angular momentum Lz, are found to correspond to the generators of the SU(2) internal symmetry of the two-dimensional quantum oscillator and the connection to the Schwinger model of angular momentum is made apparent. We give a self-contained new look on this topic.

DOI
10.1016/j.physo.2020.100021

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Both the two-dimensional harmonic oscillator and the Newton potential allow particular solutions for the orbits which are ellipses with center of attraction in the center, in the first case, and in one focus, in the second. The same complex map which allows to go from Kepler’s to Hooke’s orbits, and back, is used to transform the Lenz vector, defined for the Kepler orbit, into two conserved quantities for the harmonic motion. Upon quantization, the resulting operators, together with the angular momentum Lz, are found to correspond to the generators of the SU(2) internal symmetry of the two-dimensional quantum oscillator and the connection to the Schwinger model of angular momentum is made apparent. We give a self-contained new look on this topic.
A consideration of the eigenvalue problem for the quantum-mechanical three-dimensional isotropic harmonic oscillator leads to a derivation of a conserved symmetric tensor operator, in addition to the angular momentum vector operator. Upon examining the classical limit, it is found that the symmetric tensor completely specifies the orientation of the elliptical orbit, in a way analogous to the Runge-Lenz vector for the Kepler problem. The tensor operator and the angular momentum vector operator are then related to the infinitesimal operators for the SU3 group.
When a non-relativistic quantum particle moving under a radial potential V(r) has either an extra conserved vectorial operator or an extra conserved tensorial operator then, in the first case, the corresponding operator must be proportional to the quantum Laplace-Runge-Lenz vector and the compatible potential has to be the Coulomb potential. While, in the second case, the compatible potential is the harmonic oscillator one and the conserved quantity has to be a tensor formed by a symmetric combination of the position and the momentum operators, which is the quantum version of the classically conserved tensor. Thus, the superintegrable condition on classical 3D radial problems producing only closed, periodic and plane orbits still manages, even in the quantum case, to impose strong restrictions on the interaction potentials.
For a class of problems it is shown that a solution to Newton's equation of motion may be interpreted as the generating function for the matrix elements of the coordinate operators in the Heisenberg representation. For three one-dimensional problems, the harmonic oscillator, the particle in a box, and the x4{x}^{4}x4 anharmonic oscillator, solutions to the quantum-mechanical problem are given in terms of the classical solution. A brief examination is made of a two-dimensional problem in which the angular momentum is conserved.
The quantization of orbital angular momentum can be introduced simply through the model of the two- and three-dimensional simple harmonic oscillator. Most of the analysis is carried out in the familiar Cartesian coordinate system in which the simple harmonic oscillator Schrödinger equation is separable. Angular momentum eigenfunctions are constructed by superposition, and the resulting functions easily transformed into spherical coordinates. The angle-dependent parts of the solutions are the spherical harmonics, which are the orbital angular momentum eigenfunctions for all central potentials including the Coulomb potential of the hydrogen atom. The method also introduces the separation of variables technique and provides practice in applying the concepts of completeness, orthogonality, superposition of states, and alternative representations.
\n We have formulated a model of a complex (two-dimensional) quantum harmonic oscillator. All dynamical physical variables are expressed in terms of the creation and annihilation operators, viz., $a_{z}, \\bar{a}_{z}\\ {\\rm and} \\ a_{\\bar{z}}, \\bar{a}_{\\bar{z}} $. The Hamiltonian of the system is $H_{z\\bar{z}} = (\\bar{a}_{z}a_{z} + 1) + \\omega L_{z} $, where ω is the oscillator frequency and $L_{z} = \\frac{\\hbar }{2}\\,(\\bar{a}_{\\bar{z}} a_{\\bar{z}}-\\bar{a}_{z}a_{z}) $ is the orbital angular momentum. The oscillator is found to be described by a conserved orbital angular momentum (Lz) besides energy. While the ground-state wave function is real, all excited states are complex and degenerate. The oscillator in these states carry a quantum of charge of $e^{{\\ast}} = \\frac{n}{2n\\pm1} e $. These degenerate wave functions are eigenstates of the orbital angular momentum with eigenvalues nℏ and −nℏ, where h=2πℏ is the Planck's constant and n=1, 2, … . The two wave functions are degenerate with energy En=(n+1)ℏω. The comparison with Landau level reveals that in the presence of the magnetic field, B, where ω is equal to the cyclotron frequency, the current moment is quantized and is proportional to the square root of the magnetic field, i.e., ${\\cal I}_{n}\\propto n e \\sqrt{B} $.\n
The usual explicit expressions for spherical harmonics are derived by a method which does not involve the solution of differential equations or the use of angular momentum operators in spherical polar form. Instead a raising operator constructed from an arbitrary vector is used together with the usual angular momentum raising and lowering operators. The method is first presented as simply as possible in Schrödinger representation using position as the vector. Then it is generalized to an arbitrary vector and arbitrary integral angular momentum without using a particular representation. Finally it is shown how a conserved vector (other than angular momentum) of a central system can be used to reveal properties of the energy eigenstates. As an example, eigenstates of the hydrogen atom are found using the Runge-Lenz vector.