The κ-Dirac oscillator in (2 + 1) dimensions

Fabiano M. Andrade1, ∗ and Edilberto O. Silva2, †

1
Departamento de Matemática e Estatı́stica, Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa, 84030-900 Ponta Grossa-PR, Brazil
2
Departamento de Fı́sica, Universidade Federal do Maranhão,
Campus Universitário do Bacanga, 65085-580 São Luı́s-MA, Brazil
(Dated: June 16, 2014)
In this Letter, the Dirac oscillator in (2 + 1) dimensions in the quantum deformed framework
generated by the κ-Poincaré-Hopf algebra is considered. The problem is formulated using the κ-
deformed Dirac equation. The resulting theory reveals that the energies and wave functions of the
oscillator are modified by the deformation parameter.
arXiv:1406.3547v1 [hep-th] 13 Jun 2014

I. INTRODUCTION Dirac oscillator in (3 + 1) dimensions has been discussed

The Dirac oscillator, established in 1989 by Moshinsky
and Szczepaniak [1, 2], is considered a natural framework
to access the relativistic quantum properties of quantum
harmonic oscillator-like systems. This model has inspired
a great deal of investigations in recent years. These stud-
ies have allowed the exploration of new models in theo-
retical and experimental physics. In the context of re-
cent investigations, the interest in this issue appears, for
example, in quantum optics [3, 4], deformed Kempf al-
gebra [5], graphene physics [6], noncommutative space
[7–9], quantum phase transition [10, 11] and topological
defects [12, 13]. Among several recent contributions on
the Dirac oscillator, we refer to its first experimental ver-
ification [14]. For a more detailed approach of the Dirac
oscillator see Refs. [15–21].
It is well known that the dynamics of the Dirac oscilla-
tor is governed by the Dirac equation with the nonmini-
mal prescription
p → p − imωβr, (1)
where p is the momentum operator, m is the mass, ω the
frequency of the oscillator and r is the position vector.
In the same context, another usual framework where one
can study the dynamics of the Dirac oscillator is that
in connection with the theory of quantum deformations.
These quantum deformations are realized based on the
κ-Poincaré-Hopf algebra [22–25] and has direct implica-
tions on the quantum dynamics of relativistic and nonrel-
ativistic quantum systems. The deformation parameter
κ appearing in the theory is usually interpreted as being
the Planck mass mP [26]. Some important contributions
on κ-deformation have been studied in Refs. [27–40].
The physical properties of κ-deformed relativistic
quantum systems can be accessed by solving the κ-
deformed Dirac equation [41, 42]. Recently, some stud-
ies involving κ-deformation have also been reported with
great interest. Some theoretical contributions in this con-
text can be found, for example, in Refs. [43–47]. The
in connection with the theory of quantum deformations
in Ref. [48]. However, it is well known that a Dirac oscil-
lator in (2+1) dimensions exhibits a dynamics completely
different from that in (3 + 1) dimensions. In this context,
the main goal of this Letter is study the dynamics of the
Dirac oscillator in (2 + 1) dimensions in the quantum
deformed framework generated by the κ-Poincaré-Hopf
algebra.
This Letter is organized as follow. In Section II, we
revise the Dirac oscillator in (2 + 1) dimensions and de-
termine the energy levels and wave function. In Section
III, the Dirac oscillator in (2+1) dimensions in the frame-
work of the quantum deformation is discussed. A brief
conclusion is outlined in Section IV.
II. DIRAC OSCILLATOR IN (2 + 1)
DIMENSIONS
In this section, we briefly discuss the usual Dirac oscil-
lator in (2 + 1) dimensions for later comparison with the
deformed one. One begins by writing the Dirac equation
in (2 + 1) dimensions
(βγ · p + βm) ψ = Eψ, (2)
where p = (px , py ) and ψ is a two-component spinor. The
2D Dirac oscillator is obtained throught the nonmininal
prescription in Eq. (1) where r = (x, y) is the position
vector. Thus, the relevant equation is
H0 ψ = [βγ · (p − imωβr) + βm] ψ = Eψ, (3)
and the Dirac matrices obey the following anticommuta-
tion relations and the square identity:
{αi , αj } = 0, i 6= j
{αi , β} = 0,
α2i = β 2 = I. (4)
The γ matrices are conveniently chosen as

βγx = σx , βγy = sσy , β = σz , (5)

∗ fmandrade@uepg.br where s is twice the spin value, with s = +1 for spin
† edilbertoo@gmail.com “up” and s = −1 for spin “down”, and σi are the Pauli
 2

with i = 1, 2. Identifying P0 = H = E and Pi = πi =

n pi − imωβri , we have
6
0 1 2 3 4 5 h ε i
5 Hψ = H0 − (H 2 − πi πi − mβH) ψ = Eψ, (11)
2
Energy HauL

4 By iterating Eq. (11), we have up to O(ε) (ε2 ≈ 0)

3
h ε i
Hψ = H0 − (H02 − πi πi − mβH0 ) ψ = Eψ, (12)
2
2
with H0 given in Eq. (3). By using the same representa-
1 tion of the previous section for the γ matrices, Eq. (12)
assumes the form
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
 mε 
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 1+ σz (σx πx + sσy πy + mσz )ψ =
l 2
E + ε m2 ω 2 r2 − mωsLz + imωσz (r · p) ψ. (13)
 

FIG. 1. (Color online) The positive energy spectrum, Eq.

(8), for the Dirac oscillator in (2 + 1) dimensions for different Equation (13), in polar coordinates (r, φ), reads
values of n and l with m = ω = 1 and s = 1. Notice that
levels with quantum numbers n ± q have the same energy as
 mε  h s i
eisσz φ 1 + σz σx ∂r + σy ∂φ − imωr ψ =
levels with l ± q, with q an integer. 2 r
2 2 2


i E − mσz + ε m ω r + imωs∂φ + mωσz r∂r ψ.
(14)
matrices. By squaring Eq. (3), one obtains
 2 Our task now is solve Eq. (14). As the deformation
p + m2 ω 2 r2 − 2mω(σ 3 + sL3 ) ψ = (E 2 − m2 )ψ. (6)

does not break the angular symmetry, then we can use a
similar ansatz as for the usual (undeformed) case
If one adopts the following decomposition
fε (r) eilφ
 
  
f (r) eilφ
 ψ= , (15)
ψ=
ψ1
= , (7) igε (r) ei(l+s)φ
ψ2 ig(r) ei(l+s)φ
but now with the radial part labeled by the deformation
for the spinor, from Eq. (6), it is possible to obtain the parameter. So, by using the ansatz (15) into Eq. (14),
energy spectrum [21]: we find a set of two coupled radial differential equations
of first order
p
E = ± m2 + 2mω (2n + |l| − sl), (8)  
 mε  d s(l + s)
1+ + − mωr gε (r) = (E−m)fε (r)
and unnormalized wave functions 2 dr r
 
2 2 2 d
f (ρ) = ρ(|l|+1)/2 e−ρ/2 M (−n, 1 + |l|, ρ) . (9) + ε m ω r − mωsl + mωr fε (r), (16a)
dr
Here, n = 0, 1, 2, . . ., l = 0, ±1, ±2, . . ., ρ = mωr2 and
M (z) is the confluent hypergeometric function of the first  
mε  d sl

kind [49]. It should be noted that the spectrum is spin 1− − + mωr fε (r) = −(E + m)gε (r)
2 dr r
dependent, and for sl > 0 the energy eigenvalues are  
independent of l as depicted in the Fig. 1. d
− ε m2 ω 2 r2 − mωs(l + s) − mωρ gε (r). (16b)
dr
The above system of equations can be decoupled yielding
III. κ-DIRAC OSCILLATOR IN (2 + 1)
DIMENSIONS a single second order differential equation for fε (r),
 
1
In this section, we address the Dirac oscillator in (2+1) − fε′′ (r) − + 2m2 εωr fε′ (r)
dimensions in the framework of κ-Poincaré-Hopf algebra. r
 2 
We begin with the κ-Dirac equation in (2+1) dimensions l
+ 2 + (1 − 2Eε) m2 ω 2 r2 − kε2 fε (r) = 0, (17)
[41, 42, 46] r
n ε o where
γ0 P0 − γi Pi + γ0 (P02 − Pi Pi ) − mP0 ψ = mψ,
2
(10) kε2 = E 2 − m2 + 2mω [(sl + 1)(1 − εE) + mε] . (18)
 3

We can observe that the particle and antiparticle ener-

7.8 gies are different, as a consequence of charge conjugation
7.6
symmetry breaking caused by the deformation parameter
[48]. Notice that, ε = 0, exactly conducts to the results
7.4 for the energy levels and wave functions of the previous
Energy HauL

section for the usual Dirac oscillator, revealing the con-

7.2
sistency of the description here developed. It is worth-
7.0 while to note that the infinity degeneracy present in the
¶ usual two-dimensional Dirac oscillator is preserved by the
6.8 0
deformation, but affecting the separation of the energy
6.6
10-4 levels. The distance between the adjacent energy levels
10-3 decreases as the deformation parameter increases. In Fig.
6.4 2 is depicted the undeformed and deformed energy levels
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 for some values of the deformation parameter for n = 10.
l In Ref. [43], we have determined a upper bound for the
deformation parameter. Taking into account this upper
FIG. 2. (Color online) The deformed energy levels, Eq. (23), bound, the product mε should be smaller than 0.00116.
for the κ-Dirac oscillator in (2 + 1) dimensions for n = 10, In this manner, using units such as m = 1, we must con-
s = 1 and for different values of l. We use units such as sider values for the deformation smaller than 0.00116.
m = ω = 1.

A similar equation for gε there exists. The regular solu- IV. CONCLUSIONS
tion for Eq. (17) is
In this letter, we have considered the dynamics of Dirac
fε (ρ) = (λε ρ)(|l|−1)/2 e−(mε+λε )ρ/2 M (dε , 1 + |l|, λε ρ) , oscillator in the context of κ-Poincaré-Hopf algebra in
(19) (2 + 1) dimensions. Using the fact that the deformation
where does not break the angular symmetry, we have derived
the κ-deformed radial differential equation whose solu-
λε = 1 − Eε, (20) tion has led to the deformed energy spectrum and wave
functions. We verify that the energy spectrum and wave
and functions are modified by the presence of the deformation
1 + |l| 2m2 ωε − kε2 parameter ε. Using values for the deformation parameter
dε = + . (21) lower than the upper bound 0.00116, we have examined
2 4γλε
the dependence of the energy of the oscillator with the
The deformed spectrum are obtained by establishing deformation. The deformation parameter modifies the
as convergence criterion the condition dε = −n. In this energy spectrum and wave functions the Dirac oscilla-
manner, the deformed energy spectrum is given by tor, preserving the infinity degeneracy, but affecting the
distance between the adjacent energy levels. Finally, the
E 2 − m2 = 2mω(2n + |l| − sl)λε . (22) case ε, exactly conducts for the results for the usual Dirac
oscillator in (2 + 1) dimensions.
Thus, solving Eq. (22) for E, the deformed energy levels
are explicitly given by
p V. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
E = ± m2 + 2mω (2n + |l| − sl) − mεω(2n + |l| − sl),
(23)
and its unnormalized wave functions are of the form This work was supported by the Fundação Araucária
(Grant No. 205/2013), and the Conselho Nacional de
fε (ρ) = (λε ρ)(|l|−1)/2 e−(mε+λε )ρ/2 M (−n, 1 + |l|, λε ρ) . Desenvolvimento Cientı́fico e Tecnológico (Grants No.
(24) 482015/2013-6 (Universal), No. 306068/2013-3 (PQ))
In deriving our results we have neglected terms of O(ε2 ). and FAPEMA (Grant No. 00845/13).

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