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International Journal of Modern Physics A

WKB approximation for quaternionic quantum mechanics with purely imaginary potentials

Bhashkar Singh, A. S. Rawat, Seema Rawat

Published Jan 24, 2026• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Solving the Schrödinger equation in quaternionic quantum mechanics (QQM) has been a nut to crack. In complex quantum mechanics (CQM), approximation methods have been used to find the solutions of the Schrödinger equation when exact solutions are difficult to obtain. This study challenges the earlier Eikonal (or WKB) approximation formalism [S. L. Adler, Quaternionic Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Fields (Oxford University Press, New York, 1995)] developed for an imaginary quaternion potential. In this paper, the correct form of coupled equations, obeying the noncommutative structure and approximated solution for quaternionic time-independent Schrödinger equation (QTISE), has been obtained.

DOI
10.1142/s0217751x26500533

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Solving the Schrödinger equation in quaternionic quantum mechanics (QQM) has been a nut to crack. In complex quantum mechanics (CQM), approximation methods have been used to find the solutions of the Schrödinger equation when exact solutions are difficult to obtain. This study challenges the earlier Eikonal (or WKB) approximation formalism [S. L. Adler, Quaternionic Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Fields (Oxford University Press, New York, 1995)] developed for an imaginary quaternion potential. In this paper, the correct form of coupled equations, obeying the noncommutative structure and approximated solution for quaternionic time-independent Schrödinger equation (QTISE), has been obtained.
In this chapter we study another very important and powerful approximation method, the so-called eikonal approximation or Wentzel-Kramer-Brillouin (WKB) method, which is used in studying quantum mechanical systems that are subjected to complicated potentials. This method can be used to find approximate solutions to differential equations where the highest derivative is multiplied by a small parameter. The WKB method gives approximate solution to the Schrödinger equation irrespective of its complicated potential and is mostly used to study one-dimensional systems and also the radial equations for higher-dimensional systems with rotational symmetry.
We complete the rules of translation between standard complex quantum mechanics (CQM) and quaternionic quantum mechanics (QQM) with complex geometry. In particular we describe the way in which (2n+1)-dimensional complex matrices are reduced to overlapping (n+1)-dimensional quaternionic matrices with generalized quaternionic elements. This step resolves an outstanding difficulty with reduction of purely complex matrix groups within quaternionic QM and avoids anomalous eigenstates. As a result we present a more complete translation from CQM to QQM and vice versa.
A new kind of quantum mechanics using inner products, matrix elements, and coefficients assuming values that are quaternionic (and thus noncommutative) instead of complex is developed. This is the most general kind of quantum mechanics possessing the same kind of calculus of assertions as conventional quantum mechanics. The role played by the new imaginaries is studied. The principal conceptual difficulty concerns the theory of composite systems where the ordinary tensor product fails due to noncommutativity. It is shown that the natural resolution of this difficulty introduces new degrees of freedom similar to isospin and hypercharge. The problem of the Schrödinger equation, ``which i should appear?'' is studied and a generalization of Stone's theorem is used to resolve this problem.
Quantum mechanics is a theory that can explain phenomena of atom-sized matter or smaller, which classical mechanics cannot do. The central equation of quantum mechanics is the Schrödinger equation. Mathematically, the Schrödinger equation is a second order partial differential equation which tells us how a wave function changes with time. For most problems in quantum mechanics, the Schrödinger equation cannot present exact solutions, except for a few idealized systems in which the Schrödinger equation can be solved exactly. Therefore, approximation methods are needed to find solutions to the Schrödinger equation. In this paper, systems in stationary states are of special interest, in which the Schrödinger equation is reduced to the time-independent Schrödinger equation. One of the approximation methods that work for systems in stationary states is the WKB approximation. In this paper, transmission probabilities for various potentials are calculated using the WKB approximation. The potentials studied in this paper are composed of the asymmetric square-well potential, the hyperbolic tangent potential, the squared hyperbolic secant potential, and the double squared hyperbolic secant potential.
Abstract In this chapter we discuss a number of methods for handling stationary state problems in quaternionic quantum mechanics and then consider more generally methods in which the phase of the wave function plays a primary role. We first describe exact methods for reducing the anti Hermitian quaternionic Hamiltonian H to a complex Hermitian Hamiltonian H for an equivalent complex quantum mechanics problem. We then develop stationary state perturbation theory, and as an application compute the leading approximation to the Hamiltonian phase operator IH. We also give a quaternionic analog of the Rayleigh-Ritz variational principle. We proceed next to an extended discussion of the geometric phase in quaternionic quantum mechanics, in both the adiabatic and the nonadiabatic cases. Finally, we give the quaternionic generalization of the eikonal or WKB approximation.