A Schr\"odinger potential involving $x^\frac{2}{3}$ and centrifugal-barrier terms conditionally integrable in terms of the confluent hypergeometric functions

TL;DR

This paper solves the one-dimensional Schrödinger equation for a specific potential involving fractional power and centrifugal terms, expressing solutions with Hermite functions, revealing a conditionally integrable, confining potential with infinite bound states.

Contribution

It provides an exact solution for a Schrödinger potential involving fractional powers and centrifugal barriers, using non-integer Hermite functions, and characterizes its bound state spectrum.

Findings

Potential is conditionally integrable with fixed centrifugal strength.

Solution expressed in terms of non-integer Hermite functions.

Potential supports infinitely many bound states.

Abstract

The solution of the one-dimensional Schr\"odinger equation for a potential involving an attractive $x^\frac{2}{3}$ and a repulsive centrifugal-barrier $\sim x^{-2}$ terms is presented in terms of the non-integer-order Hermite functions. The potential belongs to one of the five bi-confluent Heun families. This is a conditionally integrable potential in that the strength of the centrifugal-barrier term is fixed. The general solution of the problem is composed using fundamental solutions each of which presents an irreducible linear combination of two Hermite functions of a scaled and shifted argument. The potential presents an infinitely extended confining well defined on the positive semi-axis and sustains infinitely many bound states.