Guidance, flight mechanics and trajectory optimization. Volume 12 - Relative motion, guidance equations for terminal rendezvous

Equations of relative motion and guidance for orbital transfer and docking maneuvers in spacecraft rendezvou

Harmonic oscillator well with a screened Coulombic core is quasi-exactly solvable

In the quantization scheme which weakens the hermiticity of a Hamiltonian to its mere PT invariance the superposition V(x) = x^2+ Ze^2/x of the harmonic and Coulomb potentials is defined at the purely imaginary effective charges (Ze^2=if) and regularized by a purely imaginary shift of x. This model is quasi-exactly solvable: We show that at each excited, (N+1)-st harmonic-oscillator energy E=2N+3 there exists not only the well known harmonic oscillator bound state (at the vanishing charge f=0) but also a normalizable (N+1)-plet of the further elementary Sturmian eigenstates \psi_n(x) at eigencharges f=f_n > 0, n = 0, 1, ..., N. Beyond the first few smallest multiplicities N we recommend their perturbative construction.Comment: 13 pages, Latex file, to appear in J. Phys. A: Math. Ge

New Quasi-Exactly Solvable Sextic Polynomial Potentials

A Hamiltonian is said to be quasi-exactly solvable (QES) if some of the energy levels and the corresponding eigenfunctions can be calculated exactly and in closed form. An entirely new class of QES Hamiltonians having sextic polynomial potentials is constructed. These new Hamiltonians are different from the sextic QES Hamiltonians in the literature because their eigenfunctions obey PT-symmetric rather than Hermitian boundary conditions. These new Hamiltonians present a novel problem that is not encountered when the Hamiltonian is Hermitian: It is necessary to distinguish between the parametric region of unbroken PT symmetry, in which all of the eigenvalues are real, and the region of broken PT symmetry, in which some of the eigenvalues are complex. The precise location of the boundary between these two regions is determined numerically using extrapolation techniques and analytically using WKB analysis

Quasi-Local Formulation of Non-Abelian Finite-Element Gauge Theory

Recently it was shown how to formulate the finite-element equations of motion of a non-Abelian gauge theory, by gauging the free lattice difference equations, and simultaneously determining the form of the gauge transformations. In particular, the gauge-covariant field strength was explicitly constructed, locally, in terms of a path ordered product of exponentials (link operators). On the other hand, the Dirac and Yang-Mills equations were nonlocal, involving sums over the entire prior lattice. Earlier, Matsuyama had proposed a local Dirac equation constructed from just the above-mentioned link operators. Here, we show how his scheme, which is closely related to our earlier one, can be implemented for a non-Abelian gauge theory. Although both Dirac and Yang-Mills equations are now local, the field strength is not. The technique is illustrated with a direct calculation of the current anomalies in two and four space-time dimensions. Unfortunately, unlike the original finite-element proposal, this scheme is in general nonunitary.Comment: 19 pages, REVTeX, no figure

PT-Symmetric Representations of Fermionic Algebras

A recent paper by Jones-Smith and Mathur extends PT-symmetric quantum mechanics from bosonic systems (systems for which $T^2=1$) to fermionic systems (systems for which $T^2=-1$). The current paper shows how the formalism developed by Jones-Smith and Mathur can be used to construct PT-symmetric matrix representations for operator algebras of the form $\eta^2=0$, $\bar{\eta}^2=0$, $\eta\bar{\eta}+\bar {\eta} =\alpha 1$, where $\bar{eta}=\eta^{PT} =PT \eta T^{-1}P^{-1}$. It is easy to construct matrix representations for the Grassmann algebra ($\alpha=0$). However, one can only construct matrix representations for the fermionic operator algebra ($\alpha\neq0$) if $\alpha= -1$; a matrix representation does not exist for the conventional value $\alpha=1$.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Exactly solvable PT-symmetric Hamiltonian having no Hermitian counterpart

In a recent paper Bender and Mannheim showed that the unequal-frequency fourth-order derivative Pais-Uhlenbeck oscillator model has a realization in which the energy eigenvalues are real and bounded below, the Hilbert-space inner product is positive definite, and time evolution is unitary. Central to that analysis was the recognition that the Hamiltonian $H_{\rm PU}$ of the model is PT symmetric. This Hamiltonian was mapped to a conventional Dirac-Hermitian Hamiltonian via a similarity transformation whose form was found exactly. The present paper explores the equal-frequency limit of the same model. It is shown that in this limit the similarity transform that was used for the unequal-frequency case becomes singular and that $H_{\rm PU}$ becomes a Jordan-block operator, which is nondiagonalizable and has fewer energy eigenstates than eigenvalues. Such a Hamiltonian has no Hermitian counterpart. Thus, the equal-frequency PT theory emerges as a distinct realization of quantum mechanics. The quantum mechanics associated with this Jordan-block Hamiltonian can be treated exactly. It is shown that the Hilbert space is complete with a set of nonstationary solutions to the Schr\"odinger equation replacing the missing stationary ones. These nonstationary states are needed to establish that the Jordan-block Hamiltonian of the equal-frequency Pais-Uhlenbeck model generates unitary time evolution.Comment: 39 pages, 0 figure

Calculation of the Hidden Symmetry Operator in PT-Symmetric Quantum Mechanics

In a recent paper it was shown that if a Hamiltonian H has an unbroken PT symmetry, then it also possesses a hidden symmetry represented by the linear operator C. The operator C commutes with both H and PT. The inner product with respect to CPT is associated with a positive norm and the quantum theory built on the associated Hilbert space is unitary. In this paper it is shown how to construct the operator C for the non-Hermitian PT-symmetric Hamiltonian $H={1\over2}p^2+{1\over2}x^2 +i\epsilon x^3$ using perturbative techniques. It is also shown how to construct the operator C for $H={1\over2}p^2+{1\over2}x^2-\epsilon x^4$ using nonperturbative methods

On the eigenproblems of PT-symmetric oscillators

We consider the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian H= -\frac{d^2}{dx^2}+P(x^2)-(ix)^{2n+1} on the real line, where P(x) is a polynomial of degree at most n \geq 1 with all nonnegative real coefficients (possibly P\equiv 0). It is proved that the eigenvalues \lambda must be in the sector | arg \lambda | \leq \frac{\pi}{2n+3}. Also for the case H=-\frac{d^2}{dx^2}-(ix)^3, we establish a zero-free region of the eigenfunction u and its derivative u^\prime and we find some other interesting properties of eigenfunctions.Comment: 21pages, 9 figure

Homogeneity of Stellar Populations in Early-Type Galaxies with Different X-ray Properties

We have found the stellar populations of early-type galaxies are homogeneous with no significant difference in color or Mg2 index, despite the dichotomy between X-ray extended early-type galaxies and X-ray compact ones. Since the X-ray properties reflect the potential gravitational structure and hence the process of galaxy formation, the homogeneity of the stellar populations implies that the formation of stars in early-type galaxies predat es the epoch when the dichotomy of the potential structure was established.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Complex Extension of Quantum Mechanics

It is shown that the standard formulation of quantum mechanics in terms of Hermitian Hamiltonians is overly restrictive. A consistent physical theory of quantum mechanics can be built on a complex Hamiltonian that is not Hermitian but satisfies the less restrictive and more physical condition of space-time reflection symmetry (PT symmetry). Thus, there are infinitely many new Hamiltonians that one can construct to explain experimental data. One might expect that a quantum theory based on a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian would violate unitarity. However, if PT symmetry is not spontaneously broken, it is possible to construct a previously unnoticed physical symmetry C of the Hamiltonian. Using C, an inner product is constructed whose associated norm is positive definite. This construction is completely general and works for any PT-symmetric Hamiltonian. Observables exhibit CPT symmetry, and the dynamics is governed by unitary time evolution. This work is not in conflict with conventional quantum mechanics but is rather a complex generalisation of it.Comment: 4 Pages, Version to appear in PR