237 research outputs found
Energy bounds for the spinless Salpeter equation
We study the spectrum of the spinless-Salpeter Hamiltonian H = \beta
\sqrt{m^2 + p^2} + V(r), where V(r) is an attractive central potential in three
dimensions. If V(r) is a convex transformation of the Coulomb potential -1/r
and a concave transformation of the harmonic-oscillator potential r^2, then
upper and lower bounds on the discrete eigenvalues of H can be constructed,
which may all be expressed in the form E = min_{r>0} [ \beta \sqrt{m^2 +
P^2/r^2} + V(r) ] for suitable values of P here provided. At the critical point
the relative growth to the Coulomb potential h(r)=-1/r must be bounded by dV/dh
< 2\beta/\pi.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur
Quality of Variational Trial States
Besides perturbation theory (which clearly requires the knowledge of the
exact unperturbed solution), variational techniques represent the main tool for
any investigation of the eigenvalue problem of some semibounded operator H in
quantum theory. For a reasonable choice of the employed trial subspace of the
domain of H, the lowest eigenvalues of H usually can be located with acceptable
precision whereas the trial-subspace vectors corresponding to these eigenvalues
approximate, in general, the exact eigenstates of H with much less accuracy.
Accordingly, various measures for the accuracy of the approximate eigenstates
derived by variational techniques are scrutinized. In particular, the matrix
elements of the commutator of the operator H and (suitably chosen) different
operators with respect to degenerate approximate eigenstates of H obtained by
variational methods are proposed as new criteria for the accuracy of
variational eigenstates. These considerations are applied to precisely that
Hamiltonian for which the eigenvalue problem defines the well-known spinless
Salpeter equation. This bound-state wave equation may be regarded as (the most
straightforward) relativistic generalization of the usual nonrelativistic
Schroedinger formalism, and is frequently used to describe, e.g., spin-averaged
mass spectra of bound states of quarks.Comment: LaTeX, 7 pages, version to appear in Physical Review
Instantaneous Bethe-Salpeter Equation: Analytic Approach for Nonvanishing Masses of the Bound-State Constituents
The instantaneous Bethe-Salpeter equation, derived from the general
Bethe-Salpeter formalism by assuming that the involved interaction kernel is
instantaneous, represents the most promising framework for the description of
hadrons as bound states of quarks from first quantum-field-theoretic
principles, that is, quantum chromodynamics. Here, by extending a previous
analysis confined to the case of bound-state constituents with vanishing
masses, we demonstrate that the instantaneous Bethe-Salpeter equation for
bound-state constituents with (definitely) nonvanishing masses may be converted
into an eigenvalue problem for an explicitly - more precisely, algebraically -
known matrix, at least, for a rather wide class of interactions between these
bound-state constituents. The advantages of the explicit knowledge of this
matrix representation are self-evident.Comment: 12 Pages, LaTeX, 1 figur
Accuracy of Approximate Eigenstates
Besides perturbation theory, which requires, of course, the knowledge of the
exact unperturbed solution, variational techniques represent the main tool for
any investigation of the eigenvalue problem of some semibounded operator H in
quantum theory. For a reasonable choice of the employed trial subspace of the
domain of H, the lowest eigenvalues of H usually can be located with acceptable
precision whereas the trial-subspace vectors corresponding to these eigenvalues
approximate, in general, the exact eigenstates of H with much less accuracy.
Accordingly, various measures for the accuracy of the approximate eigenstates
derived by variational techniques are scrutinized. In particular, the matrix
elements of the commutator of the operator H and (suitably chosen) different
operators, with respect to degenerate approximate eigenstates of H obtained by
some variational method, are proposed here as new criteria for the accuracy of
variational eigenstates. These considerations are applied to that Hamiltonian
the eigenvalue problem of which defines the "spinless Salpeter equation." This
(bound-state) wave equation may be regarded as the most straightforward
relativistic generalization of the usual nonrelativistic Schroedinger
formalism, and is frequently used to describe, e.g., spin-averaged mass spectra
of bound states of quarks.Comment: LaTeX, 14 pages, Int. J. Mod. Phys. A (in print); 1 typo correcte
Stability in the instantaneous Bethe-Salpeter formalism: harmonic-oscillator reduced Salpeter equation
A popular three-dimensional reduction of the Bethe-Salpeter formalism for the
description of bound states in quantum field theory is the Salpeter equation,
derived by assuming both instantaneous interactions and free propagation of all
bound-state constituents. Numerical (variational) studies of the Salpeter
equation with confining interaction, however, observed specific instabilities
of the solutions, likely related to the Klein paradox and rendering (part of
the) bound states unstable. An analytic investigation of this problem by a
comprehensive spectral analysis is feasible for the reduced Salpeter equation
with only harmonic-oscillator confining interactions. There we are able to
prove rigorously that the bound-state solutions correspond to real discrete
energy spectra bounded from below and are thus free of any instabilities.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures, extended conclusions, version to appear in Phys.
Rev.
Instantaneous Bethe-Salpeter equation: improved analytical solution
Studying the Bethe-Salpeter formalism for interactions instantaneous in the
rest frame of the bound states described, we show that, for bound-state
constituents of arbitrary masses, the mass of the ground state of a given spin
may be calculated almost entirely analytically with high accuracy, without the
(numerical) diagonalization of the matrix representation obtained by expansion
of the solutions over a suitable set of basis states.Comment: 7 page
Relativistic N-Boson Systems Bound by Oscillator Pair Potentials
We study the lowest energy E of a relativistic system of N identical bosons
bound by harmonic-oscillator pair potentials in three spatial dimensions. In
natural units the system has the semirelativistic ``spinless-Salpeter''
Hamiltonian H = \sum_{i=1}^N \sqrt{m^2 + p_i^2} + \sum_{j>i=1}^N gamma |r_i -
r_j|^2, gamma > 0. We derive the following energy bounds: E(N) = min_{r>0} [N
(m^2 + 2 (N-1) P^2 / (N r^2))^1/2 + N (N-1) gamma r^2 / 2], N \ge 2, where
P=1.376 yields a lower bound and P=3/2 yields an upper bound for all N \ge 2. A
sharper lower bound is given by the function P = P(mu), where mu =
m(N/(gamma(N-1)^2))^(1/3), which makes the formula for E(2) exact: with this
choice of P, the bounds coincide for all N \ge 2 in the Schroedinger limit m
--> infinity.Comment: v2: A scale analysis of P is now included; this leads to revised
energy bounds, which coalesce in the large-m limi
Discrete Spectra of Semirelativistic Hamiltonians
We review various attempts to localize the discrete spectra of
semirelativistic Hamiltonians of the form H = \beta \sqrt{m^2 + p^2} + V(r)
(w.l.o.g. in three spatial dimensions) as entering, for instance, in the
spinless Salpeter equation. Every Hamiltonian in this class of operators
consists of the relativistic kinetic energy \beta \sqrt{m^2 + p^2} (where \beta
> 0 allows for the possibility of more than one particles of mass m) and a
spherically symmetric attractive potential V(r), r = |x|. In general, accurate
eigenvalues of a nonlocal Hamiltonian operator can only be found by the use of
a numerical approximation procedure. Our main emphasis, however, is on the
derivation of rigorous semi-analytical expressions for both upper and lower
bounds to the energy levels of such operators. We compare the bounds obtained
within different approaches and present relationships existing between the
bounds.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figure
Gravitating semirelativistic N-boson systems
Analytic energy bounds for N-boson systems governed by semirelativistic
Hamiltonians of the form H=\sum_{i=1}^N(p_i^2 + m^2)^{1/2} - sum_{1=i<j}^N
v/r_{ij}, with v>0, are derived by use of Jacobi relative coordinates. For
gravity v=c/N, these bounds are substantially tighter than earlier bounds and
they are shown to coincide with known results in the nonrelativistic limit.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures It is now proved that the reduced Hamiltonian is
bounded below by the simple N/2 Hamiltonia
Relativistic Coulomb Problem: Analytic Upper Bounds on Energy Levels
The spinless relativistic Coulomb problem is the bound-state problem for the
spinless Salpeter equation (a standard approximation to the Bethe--Salpeter
formalism as well as the most simple generalization of the nonrelativistic
Schr\"odinger formalism towards incorporation of relativistic effects) with the
Coulomb interaction potential (the static limit of the exchange of some
massless bosons, as present in unbroken gauge theories). The nonlocal nature of
the Hamiltonian encountered here, however, renders extremely difficult to
obtain rigorous analytic statements on the corresponding solutions. In view of
this rather unsatisfactory state of affairs, we derive (sets of) analytic upper
bounds on the involved energy eigenvalues.Comment: 12 pages, LaTe
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