Pseudo-Hermitian Operators in a Description of Physical Systems

We present some basic features of pseudo-hermitian quantum mechanics and illustrate the use of pseudo-hermitian Hamiltonians in a description of physical systems.

Aharonov-Bohm Effect and the Supersymmetry of Identical Anyons

We briefly review the relation between the Aharonov-Bohm effect and the dynamical realization of anyons. We show how the particular symmetries of the Aharonov-Bohm model give rise to the (nonlinear) supersymmetry of the two-body system of identical anyons

Comment on `Solution of the Dirac equation for the Woods-Saxon potential with spin and pseudospin symmetry' [J. Y. Guo and Z-Q. Sheng, Phys. Lett. A 338 (2005) 90]

Out of the four bound-state solutions presented in loc. cit., only one (viz., the spin-symmetric one, in the low-mass regime) is shown compatible with the physical boundary conditions. We clarify the problem, correct the method and offer another, "missing" (viz., pseudospin-symmetric) new solution with certain counterintuitive "repulsion-generated" property.Comment: 6 p

Klein tunneling in carbon nanostructures: a free particle dynamics in disguise

The absence of backscattering in metallic nanotubes as well as perfect Klein tunneling in potential barriers in graphene are the prominent electronic characteristics of carbon nanostructures. We show that the phenomena can be explained by a peculiar supersymmetry generated by a first order Hamiltonian and zero order supercharge operators. Like the supersymmetry associated with second order reflectionless finite-gap systems, it relates here the low-energy behavior of the charge carriers with the free particle dynamics.Comment: 4 pages, 1 fig., typos correcte

Supersymmetric quantum mechanics living on topologically nontrivial Riemann surfaces

Supersymmetric quantum mechanics is constructed in a new non-Hermitian representation. Firstly, the map between the partner operators $H^{(\pm)}$ is chosen antilinear. Secondly, both these components of a super-Hamiltonian ${\cal H}$ are defined along certain topologically nontrivial complex curves $r^{(\pm)}(x)$ which spread over several Riemann sheets of the wave function. The non-uniqueness of our choice of the map ${\cal T}$ between "tobogganic" partner curves $r^{(+)}(x)$ and $r^{(-)}(x)$ is emphasized.Comment: 14p

Quadratic pseudosupersymmetry in two-level systems

Using the intertwining relation we construct a pseudosuperpartner for a (non-Hermitian) Dirac-like Hamiltonian describing a two-level system interacting in the rotating wave approximation with the electric component of an electromagnetic field. The two pseudosuperpartners and pseudosupersymmetry generators close a quadratic pseudosuperalgebra. A class of time dependent electric fields for which the equation of motion for a two level system placed in this field can be solved exactly is obtained. New interesting phenomenon is observed. There exists such a time-dependent detuning of the field frequency from the resonance value that the probability to populate the excited level ceases to oscillate and becomes a monotonically growing function of time tending to 3/4. It is shown that near this fixed excitation regime the probability exhibits two kinds of oscillations. The oscillations with a small amplitude and a frequency close to the Rabi frequency (fast oscillations) take place at the background of the ones with a big amplitude and a small frequency (slow oscillations). During the period of slow oscillations the minimal value of the probability to populate the excited level may exceed 1/2 suggesting for an ensemble of such two-level atoms the possibility to acquire the inverse population and exhibit lasing properties.Comment: 5 figure

Crypto-unitary forms of quantum evolution operators

For the description of quantum evolution, the use of a manifestly time-dependent quantum Hamiltonian $\mathfrak{h}(t) =\mathfrak{h}^\dagger(t)$ is shown equivalent to the work with its simplified, time-independent alternative $G\neq G^\dagger$. A tradeoff analysis is performed recommending the latter option. The physical unitarity requirement is shown fulfilled in a suitable ad hoc representation of Hilbert space.Comment: 15 p

PT-symmetric regularizations in supersymmetric quantum mechanics

Supersymmetry offers one of the deepest insights in the concept of solvability in quantum mechanics. This insight is, paradoxically, restricted by one of the most serious formal drawbacks of the standard Witten's formulation of supersymmetric quantum mechanics which lies in the Jevicki-Rodrigues' postulate of absence of poles in superpotentials W(x) over all the real axis of coordinates x. In our review we emphasize that this obstacle is artificial and that it disappears immediately after a suitable (say, constant) shift of the axis of x into complex plane. Detailed attention is paid to a close relationship between this common trick and the recent not quite expected increase of interest in non-Hermitian (a. k. a. PT-symmetric or pseudo-Hermitian) Hamiltonians. We show that the resulting PT-SUSY regularization recipe proves both easy and universal. An insight into its mathematics is mediated by the complex harmonic oscillator with a centrifugal-like spike. An exhaustive discussion of the role of the strength of this spike is offered. In addition we recollect the possibility of a re-formulation of the recipe in the second-order SUSY language. Finally we list a few promising directions of applicability of our PT-SUSY regularization prescription to a few more complicated nonrelativistic models (superintegrable Hamiltonians of the Smorodinsky-Winternitz and of the Calogero-Sutherland type) and to the relativistic Klein-Gordon equation (as well as to all of its unphysical higher-order analogues).Comment: 17 pages, based on the talk during SUSY QM conference in Valladolid in the summer in 2003, to appear in J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. (spec. issue

Pseudo-Hermitian Representation of Quantum Mechanics

A diagonalizable non-Hermitian Hamiltonian having a real spectrum may be used to define a unitary quantum system, if one modifies the inner product of the Hilbert space properly. We give a comprehensive and essentially self-contained review of the basic ideas and techniques responsible for the recent developments in this subject. We provide a critical assessment of the role of the geometry of the Hilbert space in conventional quantum mechanics to reveal the basic physical principle motivating our study. We then offer a survey of the necessary mathematical tools and elaborate on a number of relevant issues of fundamental importance. In particular, we discuss the role of the antilinear symmetries such as PT, the true meaning and significance of the charge operators C and the CPT-inner products, the nature of the physical observables, the equivalent description of such models using ordinary Hermitian quantum mechanics, the pertaining duality between local-non-Hermitian versus nonlocal-Hermitian descriptions of their dynamics, the corresponding classical systems, the pseudo-Hermitian canonical quantization scheme, various methods of calculating the (pseudo-) metric operators, subtleties of dealing with time-dependent quasi-Hermitian Hamiltonians and the path-integral formulation of the theory, and the structure of the state space and its ramifications for the quantum Brachistochrone problem. We also explore some concrete physical applications of the abstract concepts and tools that have been developed in the course of this investigation. These include applications in nuclear physics, condensed matter physics, relativistic quantum mechanics and quantum field theory, quantum cosmology, electromagnetic wave propagation, open quantum systems, magnetohydrodynamics, quantum chaos, and biophysics.Comment: 76 pages, 2 figures, 243 references, published as Int. J. Geom. Meth. Mod. Phys. 7, 1191-1306 (2010

PT symmetric models in more dimensions and solvable square-well versions of their angular Schroedinger equations

For any central potential V in D dimensions, the angular Schroedinger equation remains the same and defines the so called hyperspherical harmonics. For non-central models, the situation is more complicated. We contemplate two examples in the plane: (1) the partial differential Calogero's three-body model (without centre of mass and with an impenetrable core in the two-body interaction), and (2) the Smorodinsky-Winternitz' superintegrable harmonic oscillator (with one or two impenetrable barriers). These examples are solvable due to the presence of the barriers. We contemplate a small complex shift of the angle. This creates a problem: the barriers become "translucent" and the angular potentials cease to be solvable, having the sextuple-well form for Calogero model and the quadruple or double well form otherwise. We mimic the effect of these potentials on the spectrum by the multiple, purely imaginary square wells and tabulate and discuss the result in the first nontrivial double-well case.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures (see version 1), amendment (a single comment added on p. 7