A New Kind of Shift Operators for Infinite Circular and Spherical Wells

Abstract

A new kind of shift operators for infinite circular and spherical wells is identified. These shift operators depend on all spatial variables of quantum systems and connect some eigenstates of confined systems of different radii R sharing energy levels with a common eigenvalue. In circular well, the momentum operators P±=Px±iPy play the role of shift operators. The Px and Py operators, the third projection of the orbital angular momentum operator Lz, and the Hamiltonian H form a complete set of commuting operators with the SO(2) symmetry. In spherical well, the shift operators establish a novel relation between ψlm(r) and ψ(l ± 1)(m±1)(r).