Abstract
We consider a class of system of N interacting particles in any dimension—the potential includes a quadratic pair potential and an arbitrary translation-invariant position-dependent potential that is homogeneous of degree −2. The group SU(1,2)¯ (1̄,1̄) is the dynamical group for the Hamiltonian. We illustrate the significance of the Casimir operator in relation to the separation of variables method; obtain a series of eigenfunctions that transform under the unitary irreducible representations of SU(1,2)¯ (1̄,1̄) labeled by the ground state energy; indicate the structure of arbitrary eigenfunctions; and specify when the complete energy spectrum is linear. We treat N-body examples which include two- and three-body forces. For N identical particles in one dimension interacting with a quadratic pair potential and an inverse square pair potential, we exhibit a series of eigenfunctions characterized by four quantum numbers. These eigenfunctions reduce to the complete set of eigenfunctions for five particles. We indicate how a complete set of eigenfunctions for N particles are obtained.

This publication has 15 references indexed in Scilit: