Inequivalent quantizations of the three-particle Calogero model constructed by separation of variables

TL;DR

This paper explores all possible self-adjoint boundary conditions for the quantization of the three-particle Calogero model, revealing a family of inequivalent quantizations and analyzing their spectral properties under symmetry constraints.

Contribution

It classifies all self-adjoint boundary conditions for the 3-body Calogero model, extending Calogero's original quantization and analyzing the spectral implications of these inequivalent quantizations.

Findings

Identifies a 2-parameter family of inequivalent quantizations compatible with dihedral symmetry.

Classifies eigenstates under dihedral and particle exchange symmetries.

Shows certain boundary conditions lead to unbounded energy spectra, deemed physically impermissible.

Abstract

We quantize the 1-dimensional 3-body problem with harmonic and inverse square pair potential by separating the Schr\"odinger equation following the classic work of Calogero, but allowing all possible self-adjoint boundary conditions for the angular and radial Hamiltonians. The inverse square coupling constant is taken to be $g=2\nu (\nu-1)$ with ${1/2} <\nu< {3/2}$ and then the angular Hamiltonian is shown to admit a 2-parameter family of inequivalent quantizations compatible with the dihedral $D_6$ symmetry of its potential term $9 \nu (\nu -1)/\sin^2 3\phi$. These are parametrized by a matrix $U\in U(2)$ satisfying $\sigma_1 U \sigma_1 = U$, and in all cases we describe the qualitative features of the angular eigenvalues and classify the eigenstates under the $D_6$ symmetry and its $S_3$ subgroup generated by the particle exchanges. The angular eigenvalue $\lambda$ enters the radial Hamiltonian through the potential $(\lambda -{1/4})/r^2$ allowing a 1-parameter family of self-adjoint boundary conditions at $r=0$ if $\lambda <1$. For $0<\lambda<1$ our analysis of the radial Schr\"odinger equation is consistent with previous results on the possible energy spectra, while for $\lambda <0$ it shows that the energy is not bounded from below rejecting those $U$'s admitting such eigenvalues as physically impermissible. The permissible self-adjoint angular Hamiltonians include, for example, the cases $U=\pm {\bf 1}_2, \pm \sigma_1$, which are explicitly solvable and are presented in detail. The choice $U=-{\bf 1}_2$ reproduces Calogero's quantization, while for the choice $U=\sigma_1$ the system is smoothly connected to the harmonic oscillator in the limit $\nu \to 1$.