A geometric setting for the quantum planar n-body system, and a U(n−1) basis for the internal states

Abstract

In a previous paper [J. Math. Phys. 28, 964 (1987)], the author showed that the internal motion of a molecule, a many-body system in the Born–Oppenheimer approximation, can be well described in terms of the gauge theory or of the connection theory in differential geometry. However, the scope of that paper centers on the planar triatomic molecule in order to put forward the gauge theory in an explicit manner. This paper is a continuation of the previous one and gives the generalization to the planar multiatomic molecule. The internal space of the n-atomic molecule proves to be diffeomorphic to R+×CPn−2, the product of the positive real numbers and the complex projective space. The internal states of the molecule are described as cross sections in complex line bundles over the internal space. Introduction of the complex line bundles is a geometric consequence of the angular momentum conservation law, because cross sections in each complex line bundle are in one-to-one correspondence with eigenstates that have a fixed total angular momentum eigenvalue. The internal Hamiltonian operator is obtained, which acts on the cross sections in the complex line bundle. Further, boson calculus is performed to obtain a complete basis of internal states of the molecule, using the harmonic oscillator annihilation and creation operators. As a result, carrier spaces of unitary irreducible representations of the unitary group U(n−1), which are characterized by two integers, are realized as finite-dimensional subspaces of the space of the square integrable cross sections in the complex line bundle.