Do equidistant energy levels necessitate a harmonic potential?

Experimental results from literature show equidistant energy levels in thin Bi films on surfaces, suggesting a harmonic oscillator description. Yet this conclusion is by no means imperative, especially considering that any measurement only yields energy levels in a finite range and with a nonzero uncertainty. Within this study we review isospectral potentials from the literature and investigate the applicability of the harmonic oscillator hypothesis to recent measurements. First, we describe experimental results from literature by a harmonic oscillator model, obtaining a realistic size and depth of the resulting quantum well. Second, we use the shift-operator approach to calculate anharmonic non-polynomial potentials producing (partly) equidistant spectra. We discuss different potential types and interpret the possible modeling applications. Finally, by applying nth order perturbation theory we show that exactly equidistant eigenenergies cannot be achieved by polynomial potentials, except by the harmonic oscillator potential. In summary, we aim to give an overview over which conclusions may be drawn from the experimental determination of energy levels and which may not.

TBA equations and quantization conditions

It has been recently realized that, in the case of polynomial potentials, the exact WKB method can be reformulated in terms of a system of TBA equations. In this paper we study this method in various examples. We develop a graphical procedure due to Toledo, which provides a fast and simple way to study the wall-crossing behavior of the TBA equations. When complemented with exact quantization conditions, the TBA equations can be used to solve spectral problems exactly in Quantum Mechanics. We compute the quantum corrections to the all-order WKB periods in many examples, as well as the exact spectrum for many potentials. In particular, we show how this method can be used to determine resonances in unbounded potentials.

Large order behaviour of perturbation theory

In quantum field theory (QFT), the main analytic tool to calculate physical quantities is the perturbative expansion. Following, Dyson's intuitive argument, the divergence of perturbative series was demonstrated in some models of quantum mechanics (QM) with polynomial potentials, using the Schrödinger equation. Later, it was proposed to study the problem within a path integral formulation. A systematic method in field theory was proposed by Lipatov, using the field integral representation of the φ4 4 field theory and instantons. It can be shown that the ground-state energy of the quartic anharmonic oscillator is analytic in a cut-plane. The imaginary part of the energy on the cut is related to barrier penetration. The behaviour of the perturbative coefficients at large orders is related to the behaviour of the imaginary part for small and negative coupling and can be obtained by instanton methods. The method has been generalized to the class of potentials for which (in general complex) instanton contributions have been calculated. The same method can be readily applied to boson field theories, while the extension to field theories involving fermions, like Quantum QED, requires additional considerations. The general conclusion is that, in QFT, all perturbative series, expanded in terms of a loop-expansion parameter, are divergent series.

Do Equidistant Energy Levels Necessitate a Harmonic Potential?

Experimental results from literature show equidistant energy levels in thin Bi films on surfaces, suggesting a harmonic oscillator description. Yet this conclusion is by no means imperative, especially considering that any measurement only yields energy levels in a finite range and with a nonzero uncertainty. Within this study we review isospectral potentials from the literature and investigate the applicability of the harmonic oscillator hypothesis to recent measurements. First, we describe experimental results from literature by a harmonic oscillator model, obtaining a realistic size and depth of the resulting quantum well. Second, we use the shift-operator approach to calculate anharmonic non-polynomial potentials producing (partly) equidistant spectra. We discuss different potential types and interpret the possible modeling applications. Finally, by applying n th o rder perturbation theory we show that exactly equidistant eigenenergies cannot be achieved by polynomial potentials, except by the harmonic oscillator potential. In summary, we aim to give an overview over which conclusions may be drawn from the experimental determination of energy levels and which may not.

Spectrum of the q-Schrödinger equation by means of the variational method based on the discrete q-Hermite I polynomials

In this work, the [Formula: see text]-Schrödinger equations with symmetric polynomial potentials are considered. The spectrum of the model is obtained for several values of [Formula: see text], and the limiting case as [Formula: see text] is considered. The Rayleigh–Ritz variational method is adopted to the system. The discrete [Formula: see text]-Hermite I polynomials are handled as basis in this method. Furthermore, the following potentials with numerous results are presented as applications: [Formula: see text]-harmonic, purely [Formula: see text]-quartic and [Formula: see text]-quartic oscillators. It is also shown that the obtained results confirm the ones that exist in the literature for the continuous case.

LAURENT POLYNOMIAL LANDAU–GINZBURG MODELS FOR COMINUSCULE HOMOGENEOUS SPACES

In this article we construct Laurent polynomial Landau–Ginzburg models for cominuscule homogeneous spaces. These Laurent polynomial potentials are defined on a particular algebraic torus inside the Lie-theoretic mirror model constructed for arbitrary homogeneous spaces in [Rie08]. The Laurent polynomial takes a similar shape to the one given in [Giv96] for projective complete intersections, i.e., it is the sum of the toric coordinates plus a quantum term. We also give a general enumeration method for the summands in the quantum term of the potential in terms of the quiver introduced in [CMP08], associated to the Langlands dual homogeneous space. This enumeration method generalizes the use of Young diagrams for Grassmannians and Lagrangian Grassmannians and can be defined type-independently. The obtained Laurent polynomials coincide with the results obtained so far in [PRW16] and [PR13] for quadrics and Lagrangian Grassmannians. We also obtain new Laurent polynomial Landau–Ginzburg models for orthogonal Grassmannians, the Cayley plane and the Freudenthal variety.