The three dimensional rotation group, SO(3), is a symmetry group of the normal hydrogen atom. Each reducible representation of this group can be associated with a degenerate energy level. If this atom is placed in an external magnetic field, the interaction between the orbital magnetic moment with this field will lead to a symmetry breaking where the symmetry group of the atom is a new group distinct from the SO(3) group. This phenomenon describes the normal Zeeman effect, where a degenerate energy level splits into several new energy levels. It is explicitly shown that each of the new energy levels can be associated with an irreducible representation of the new symmetry group.
The one dimensional Schroedinger hydrogen atom is an interesting mathematical and physical problem to study bound states, eigenfunctions and quantum degeneracy issues. This 1D physical system gave rise to some intriguing controversy over more than four decades. Presently, still no definite consensus seems to have been reached. We reanalyzed this apparently controversial problem, approaching it from a Fourier transform representation method combined with some fundamental (basic) ideas found in self-adjoint extensions of symmetric operators. In disagreement with some previous claims, we found th…
Consider the problem: why does the bound state spectrum $E(n) < 0$, of hydrogen atom Hamiltonian $H$ have more degenerate eigenstates than those required by rotational symmetry? The answer is well known and was demonstrated by Pauli. It is due to an additional conserved vector, $\vec A$, of $H$, called the Laplace-Runge-Lenz vector, that was first discovered for planetary orbits. However, surprisingly, a direct link between degenerate eigenstates of $H$ and the physical labels that describe them is missing. To provide such a link requires, as we show, solving a subtle problem of self adjoint o…
Shell confined atom can serve as a generalized model to explain both \emph{free} and \emph{confined} condition. In this scenario, an atom is trapped inside two concentric spheres of inner $(R_{a})$ and outer $(R_{b})$ radius. The choice of $R_{a}, R_{b}$ renders four different quantum mechanical systems. In hydrogenic atom, they are termed as (a) free hydrogen atom (FHA) (b) confined hydrogen atom (CHA) (c) shell-confined hydrogen atom (SCHA) (d) left-confined hydrogen atom (LCHA). By placing $R_{a}, R_{b}$ at the location of radial nodes of respective \emph{free} $n,\ell$ states, a new kind o…
We consider the role of degeneracy in Parity-Time (PT) symmetry breaking for non-hermitian wave equations beyond one dimension. We show that if the spectrum is degenerate in the absence of T-breaking, and T is broken in a generic manner (without preserving other discrete symmetries), then the standard PT-symmetry breaking transition does not occur, meaning that the spectrum is complex even for infinitesimal strength of gain and loss. However the realness of the entire spectrum can be preserved over a finite interval if additional discrete symmetries X are imposed when T is broken, if X decoupl…
We study a chain of ferromagnetic nano-particles or ferromagnetic molecule/atoms on a substrate of fully gapped superconductors. We find that under quite realistic conditions, the fermion-number-parity symmetry $Z_2^f$ can spontaneously break. In other words, such a chain can realize a 1+1D fermionic topologically ordered state and the corresponding two-fold topological degeneracy on an open chain. Such a topological degeneracy becomes the so called Majorana zero mode in the non-interacting limit. More specifically, we find that $Z_2^f$ symmetry breaking or fermionic 1+1D topological order can…
Some traces of a specific Lorentz symmetry breaking scenario in the ground state of the Hydrogen atom are investigated. It is used standard Rayleigh-Schrödinger perturbation theory in order to obtain the corrections to the the ground state energy and wave function. It is shown that an induced four-pole moment arises, due to the Lorentz symmetry breaking. The model considered is the one studied in reference Eur. Phys. J. C {\bf 74}, 2937 (2014), where the Lorentz symmetry is broken in the electromagnetic sector.
We study the ground-state properties of bosons loaded into the $p$-band of a one dimensional optical lattice. We show that the phase diagram of the system is substantially affected by the anharmonicity of the lattice potential. In particular, for a certain range of tunneling strength, the full many-body ground state of the system becomes degenerate. In this region, an additional symmetry of the system, namely the parity of the occupation number of the chosen orbital, is spontaneously broken. The state with nonvanishing staggered angular momentum, which breaks the time-reversal symmetry, become…
A Dirac particle in general dimensions moving in a 1/r potential is shown to have an exact N = 2 supersymmetry, for which the two supercharge operators are obtained in terms of (a D-dimensional generalization of) the Johnson-Lippmann operator, an extension of the Runge-Lenz-Pauli vector that relativistically incorporates spin degrees of freedom. So the extra symmetry (S(2))in the quantum Kepler problem, which determines the degeneracy of the levels, is so robust as to accommodate the relativistic case in arbitrary dimensions.
The non-relativistic hydrogen atom enjoys an accidental $SO(4)$ symmetry, that enlarges the rotational $SO(3)$ symmetry, by extending the angular momentum algebra with the Runge-Lenz vector. In the relativistic hydrogen atom the accidental symmetry is partially lifted. Due to the Johnson-Lippmann operator, which commutes with the Dirac Hamiltonian, some degeneracy remains. When the non-relativistic hydrogen atom is put in a spherical cavity of radius $R$ with perfectly reflecting Robin boundary conditions, characterized by a self-adjoint extension parameter $γ$, in general the accidental $SO(4…
We touch upon a long-standing question of the "true" one-dimensional hydrogen atom solution. From a symmetry point of view, Kepler problem in $d\ge2$ dimension is characterized by geometrical rotational symmetry, $SO(d)$, as well as dynamical, "accidental" $SO(d+1)$ symmetry. Because of topology, these two symmetries are mutually exclusive in one dimension, regardless of the regularization employed, drawing one to a conclusion that the question of "true" hydrogen atom in one dimension doesn't have an answer because a single dimension can not support both of the symmetries of Kepler problem. We…
We show that the relativistic hydrogen atom possesses an SO(4) symmetry by introducing a kind of pseudo-spin vector operator. The same SO(4) symmetry is still preserved in the relativistic quantum system in presence of an U(1) monopolar vector potential as well as a nonabelian vector potential. Lamb shift and SO(4) symmetry breaking are also discussed.
In this work we investigate the $q$-deformation of the $so(4)$ dynamical symmetry of the hydrogen atom using the theory of the quantum group $su_q(2)$. We derive the energy spectrum in a physically consistent manner and find a degeneracy breaking as well as a smaller Hilbert space. We point out that using the deformed Casimir as was done before leads to inconsistencies in the physical interpretation of the theory.
When the hydrogen atom moves, the proton current generates a magnetic field which interacts with the hydrogen electron. A simple analyze shows that this interaction between the hydrogen momentum and the electron is of order of $α^3\frac{v}{c}m$, where $α$ is the fine structure constant, $v$ is the atom velocity, $c$ is the speed of light, and $m$ is the electron mass. Using the Bethe-Salpeter equation, the two velocity-dependent operators of this order are derived for the hydrogen velocity $\frac{v}{c}<<α$. As well known, the degeneracy of the energy levels with the same principal quantum numb…
We consider Projected Entangled Pair State (PEPS) models with a global $\mathbb Z_N$ symmetry, which are constructed from $\mathbb Z_N$-symmetric tensors and are thus $\mathbb Z_N$-invariant wavefunctions, and study the occurence of long-range order and symmetry breaking in these systems. First, we show that long-range order in those models is accompanied by a degeneracy in the so-called transfer operator of the system. We subsequently use this degeneracy to determine the nature of the symmetry broken states, i.e., those stable under arbitrary perturbations, and provide a succinct characteriza…
Spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) in quantum systems, such as ferromagnets, is normally described as (or as arising from) degeneracy of the ground state; however, it is well established that this degeneracy only occurs in spatially infinite systems, and even better established that ferromagnets are not spatially infinite. I review this well-known paradox, and consider a popular solution where the symmetry is explicitly broken by some external field which goes to zero in the infinite-volume limit; although this is formally satisfactory, I argue that it must be rejected as a physical explanati…
The concept of a supersolid state is paradoxical. It combines the crystallization of a many-body system with dissipationless flow of the atoms it is built of. This quantum phase requires the breaking of two continuous symmetries, the phase invariance of a superfluid and the continuous translational invariance to form the crystal,. Proposed for helium almost 50 years ago, experimental verification of supersolidity remains elusive. A variant with only discrete translational symmetry breaking on a preimposed lattice structure, the `lattice supersolid', has been realized based on self-organization…
We consider a fractional generalization of two-dimensional (2D) quantum-mechanical Kepler problem corresponding to 2D hydrogen atom. Our main finding is that the solution for discreet spectrum exists only for $μ>1$ (more specifically $1 < μ\leq 2$, where $μ=2$ corresponds to "ordinary" 2D hydrogenic problem), where $μ$ is the Lévy index. We show also that in fractional 2D hydrogen atom, the orbital momentum degeneracy is lifted so that its energy starts to depend not only on principal quantum number $n$ but also on orbital $m$. To solve the spectral problem, we pass to the momentum representat…
