Generalized invariants for the time-dependent harmonic oscillator

Abstract

A generalized class of invariants, I (t), for the three-dimensional, time-dependent harmonic oscillator is presented in both classical and quantum mechanics. For convenience a simple notation for types of harmonic oscillator is introduced. Two interpretations, one in terms of angular momentum and the other employing a canonical transformation, are offered for I (t). An invariant symmetric tensor, Imn(t), is constructed and shown to reduce to Fradkin’s invariant tensor for time-independent systems. The usual SU(3) (compact) or SU(2,1) (noncompact) is shown to be a noninvariance group for the time-dependent oscillator with S{U(2) ⊗U(1) } as the invariance subgroup. Extensions to anisotropic systems and the singular quadratic perturbation problem are discussed.