Dynamical symmetries in a spherical geometry. I

Abstract

The two potentials for which a particle moving non-relativistically in a spherical space under the action of conservative central force executes closed orbits are found. When the curvature is zero they reduce to the familiar Coulomb and isotropic oscillator potentials of Euclidean geometry. The corresponding vector (for the former) and symmetric tensor (for the latter) constants of motion are constructed. For each system in N dimensions the Poisson bracket algebra in classical mechanics, and the commutator algebra in quantum mechanics, of these constants of motion and the angular momentum components are constructed. It is proved that by an appropriate choice of independent constants of motion these Poisson bracket algebras may be transformed into Lie algebraic structures, those of the symmetry groups SO(N+1) and SU(N) respectively: the Hamiltonian of each system is expressed as a function of the Casimir operators of its symmetry group. The corresponding transformations of the quantum mechanical commutator algebras are performed only for N=2: the corresponding expressions for the Hamiltonian as functions of the Casimir operators yield the energy levels of the two systems.