Kravchuk oscillator revisited

Abstract

The study of irreducible representations of Lie algebras and groups has traditionally considered their action on functions of a continuous manifold (e.g. the 'rotation' Lie algebra so(3) on functions on the sphere). Here we argue that functions of a discrete variable -Kravchuk functions- are on equal footing for that study in the case of so(3). They lead to a discrete quantum model of the harmonic oscillator, and offer a corresponding set of special function relations. The technique is applicable to other special function families of a discrete variable, which stem from low-dimensional Lie algebras and are stationary solutions for the corresponding discrete quantum models.