English

Solution of Coulomb Path Integral in Momentum Space

Quantum Physics 2009-10-31 v2

Abstract

The path integral for a point particle in a Coulomb potential is solved in momentum space. The solution permits us to give for the first time a negative answer to an old question of quantum mechanics in curved spaces raised in 1957 by DeWitt, whether the Hamiltonian of a particle in a curved space contains an additional term proportional to the curvature scalar RR. We show that this would cause experimentally wrong level spacings in the hydrogen atom. Our solution also gives a first experimental confirmation of the correctness of the measure of integration in path integrals in curved space implied by a recently discovered nonholonomic mapping principle.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.quant-ph/9807073,
  title  = {Solution of Coulomb Path Integral in Momentum Space},
  author = {Hagen Kleinert},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:quant-ph/9807073},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

Author Information under http://www.physik.fu-berlin.de/~kleinert/institution.html . Latest update of paper also at http://www.physik.fu-berlin.de/~kleinert/kleiner_re/273

R2 v1 2026-07-22T20:04:21.962Z