Quantum Systems with jump-discontinuous mass. I
Abstract
We consider a free quantum particle in one dimension whose mass profile exhibits jump discontinuities. The corresponding Hamiltonian is a self-adjoint realisation of the kinetic-energy operator, with the specific realisation determined by the boundary conditions at the points of mass discontinuity. For a family of scale-free boundary conditions, we analyse the associated spectral problem. We find that the eigenfunctions exhibit a highly sensitive and erratic dependence on the energy. Notably, the system supports infinitely many distinct semiclassical limits, each labeled by a point on a spectral curve embedded in the two-torus. These results demonstrate a rich interplay between discontinuous coefficients, boundary data, and spectral asymptotics.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2505.16913,
title = {Quantum Systems with jump-discontinuous mass. I},
author = {Fabio Deelan Cunden and Giovanni Gramegna and Marilena Ligabò},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2505.16913},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
31 pages, 8 figures. Minor typographical corrections, content and conclusions remain unchanged