Exact solutions of Dirac equation for hydrogen atom using the linear combination of orthogonal Laguerre basis functions
Shudong Wu
The associated Laguerre polynomials are very popular in the Schrödinger equation of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics. However, the situation is quite different in the case of the Dirac equation of relativistic quantum mechanics. The exact solutions of the Dirac equation for three-dimensional (3D) hydrogen atom have been obtained using the wavefunction expansion method. The exact solutions of the radial wavefunctions are found in the form of a linear combination of the orthogonal Laguerre basis function spinors. According to the equality of coefficients in Laguerre series on both sides of the equations, the exact eigenenergies and exact expressions of the corresponding eigenstates of the Dirac equation for 3D hydrogen atom are obtained, which are the same as the power series solutions. Additionally, a comparison with the results from Dirac and Schrödinger equations for 3D hydrogen atom is discussed. Due to the relativistic effects, the Dirac bispinor occurs, and there are the tiny differences of the results between Dirac and Schrödinger equations. For the Dirac states with n r = 0, there is one set of the Dirac bispinor. However for the Dirac states with n r ≠ 0, there is a combination of two sets of the Dirac bispinor. For degenerate Dirac states, their exact expansion coefficients are commutative symmetric. These results show that the linear combination of the orthogonal Laguerre basis functions is the exact solutions of the Dirac equation for 3D hydrogen atom.
Scientific Reports•May 8, 2025•1 citation