English

Exact WKB method for radial Schr\"odinger equation

Quantum Physics 2026-04-09 v4 Nuclear Theory

Abstract

We revisit exact WKB quantization for radial Schr\"odinger problems from the modern resurgence perspective, with emphasis on how ``physically meaningful'' quantization paths should be chosen and interpreted. Using connection formulae at simple turning points and at regular singular points, we show that the nontrivial-cycle data give the spectrum. In particular, for the 33-dimensional harmonic oscillator and the 33-dimensional Coulomb potential, we explicitly compute a closed contour which starts at ++\infty, bulges into the r<0r<0 sector to encircle the origin, and returns to ++\infty. Also we propose that the appropriate slice of the closed path provides a physical local basis at r=0r=0, which is used by an origin-to-\infty open path. Via the change of variables r=exr=e^x (x(,)x\in(-\infty,\infty)), the origin data are pushed to the boundary condition of convergence at xx\to-\infty, which renders the equivalence between open-connection and closed-cycle quantization transparent. The Maslov contribution from the regular singularity is incorporated either as a small-circle monodromy which is justified in terms of renormalization group, or, equivalently, as a boundary phase; we also develop an optimized/variational perturbation theory on exact WKB. Our analysis clarifies, in radial settings, how mathematical monodromy data and physical boundary conditions dovetail, thereby addressing recent debates on path choices in resurgence-based quantization.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2510.11766,
  title  = {Exact WKB method for radial Schr\"odinger equation},
  author = {Okuto Morikawa and Shoya Ogawa},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.11766},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

30 pages, 8 figures. v2: Sections 5 (Langer transformation) and 6 (renormalization group and optimized/variational perturbation theory) are added. v3: added several appendices, including applications to nontrivial (non-solvable) examples, and a general statement on the equivalence between open-path and closed-cycle (sketch of proof). v4: to appear in J. Phys. A: Math. Theor

R2 v1 2026-07-01T06:34:41.152Z