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Exact Isospectral Pairs of PT-Symmetric Hamiltonians

High Energy Physics - Theory 2008-11-26 v2 Mathematical Physics math.MP Quantum Physics

Abstract

A technique for constructing an infinite tower of pairs of PT-symmetric Hamiltonians, H^n\hat{H}_n and K^n\hat{K}_n (n=2,3,4,...), that have exactly the same eigenvalues is described. The eigenvalue problem for the first Hamiltonian H^n\hat{H}_n of the pair must be posed in the complex domain, so its eigenfunctions satisfy a complex differential equation and fulfill homogeneous boundary conditions in Stokes' wedges in the complex plane. The eigenfunctions of the second Hamiltonian K^n\hat{K}_n of the pair obey a real differential equation and satisfy boundary conditions on the real axis. This equivalence constitutes a proof that the eigenvalues of both Hamiltonians are real. Although the eigenvalue differential equation associated with K^n\hat{K}_n is real, the Hamiltonian K^n\hat{K}_n exhibits quantum anomalies (terms proportional to powers of \hbar). These anomalies are remnants of the complex nature of the equivalent Hamiltonian H^n\hat{H}_n. In the classical limit in which the anomaly terms in K^n\hat{K}_n are discarded, the pair of Hamiltonians Hn,classicalH_{n,classical} and Kn,classicalK_{n,classical} have closed classical orbits whose periods are identical.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0802.2910,
  title  = {Exact Isospectral Pairs of PT-Symmetric Hamiltonians},
  author = {Carl M. Bender and Daniel W. Hook},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0802.2910},
  year   = {2008}
}

Comments

18 pages, 12 figures