GENERALIZED BÄCKLUND–DARBOUX TRANSFORMATIONS IN ONE-DIMENSIONAL QUANTUM MECHANICS

Abstract

We consider an action of the group of curves in GL(2,ℝ) on the set of linear systems and therefore on the set of Schrödinger equations in full similarity with the action of the group of curves in SL(2,ℝ) on the set of Riccati equations considered in previous articles. We also consider the transformations defined by a first-order differential expression which carry solutions of a Schrödinger equation into solutions of another one. We find then two non-trivial situations: transformations which can be described by the previous transformation group, generalizing previous work by us, and transformations which are singular. We show that both situations appear, e.g., in the usual problem of partner Hamiltonians in quantum mechanics. We show that the difference Bäcklund algorithm, both in the finite and confluent versions, can be understood in terms of the above mentioned transformation group, the case of two exactly equal factorization energies being an instance of the singular case. We apply the generalized theorem relating three eigenfunctions of three different Hamiltonians to the generation of new potentials with a known (excited state) eigenfunction, starting from potentials of Coulomb, Morse and Rosen–Morse type. The potentials found are new and non-trivial.