A polynomial approach to the spectrum of Dirac–Weyl polygonal Billiards

Abstract

The Schrödinger equation in a square or rectangle with hard walls is solved in every introductory quantum mechanics course. Solutions for other polygonal enclosures only exist in a very restricted class of polygons, and are all based on a result obtained by Lamé in 1852. Any enclosure can, of course, be addressed by finite element methods for partial differential equations. In this paper, we present a variational method to approximate the low-energy spectrum and wave-functions for arbitrary convex polygonal enclosures, developed initially for the study of vibrational modes of plates. In view of the recent interest in the spectrum of quantum dots of two dimensional materials, described by effective models with massless electrons, we extend the method to the Dirac–Weyl equation for a spin-1/2 fermion confined in a quantum billiard of polygonal shape, with different types of boundary conditions. We illustrate the method’s convergence in cases where the spectrum is known exactly, and apply it to cases where no exact solution exists.