Canonical transformations to action and angle variables and their representation in quantum mechanics IV. Periodic potentials

Abstract

In the previous papers of this series we discussed the representation in quantum mechanics of canonical transformations leading to action and angle variables, for Hamiltonians with bounded or unbounded orbits, i.e., whose spectra is either discrete, continuous, or mixed. In the present paper the results are extended to Hamiltonians with periodic potentials which have a band spectra. Again the canonical transformations are non-linear and non-bijective and the classical analysis shows that the angle variable φ (always in the interval 0≤φ≤2π) and action J can be defined for energies both below and above the maximum height of the potential. In all of the original phase space the variables ( q, p) are then periodic functions of φ. Inversely, because of the invariance of the Hamiltonian under translations q → q + a, the (φ, J) are also periodic functions of q. thus to recover bijectiveness we require an infinite sheet structure in both the ( q, p) and (φ, J) phase spaces. In turn the sheet structure can be replaced by appropriate ambiguity groups and spins, with the help of which we propose an explicit expression for the representation in quantum mechanics of the canonical transformation, and recover the latter when we pass to the classical limit with the help of the WKB approximation. The present analysis corroborates the previous surmise that the nature of the spectra of a quantum mechanical Hamiltonian, i.e., continuous, discrete, mixed, or of bands, is related to the ambiguity group and spin of the problem. As the latter originates in classical mechanics when we discuss the canonical transformations from ( q, p) to (φ, J), we conclude that some quantum features, such as the nature of spectra of operators, are already implicit in the classical picture.