Vol 15 No 10, October 2006 c 2006 Chin. Phys. Soc.

1009-1963/2006/15(10)/2236-04 Chinese Physics and IOP Publishing Ltd

Heisenberg algebra for noncommutative

Landau problem*
Li Kang(o x)a) , Cao Xiao-Hua(ùu)a)b) , and Wang Dong-Yan(Àÿ)a)
a) Department of Physics, Hangzhou Teachers’ College, Hangzhou 310036, China
b) Zhejiang University City College, Hangzhou 310015, China

(Received 10 December 2005; revised manuscript received 24 May 2006)

The Landau problem on non-commutative quantum mechanics is studied, where the Heisenberg algebra and the
Landau energy levels as well as the non-commutative angular momentum are constructed in detail in non-commutative
space and non-commutative phase space respectively.

Keywords: non-commutative quantum mechanics, Landau problem, Heisenberg algebra

PACC: 0365, 0365F, 1190

1. Introduction The case in which both space–space and momentum–

momentum are non-commuting[17] is different from
In the investigation of physics in a non- the case where only the space–space is non-
commutative (NC) space[1−4] motivated by argu- commuting, which is called the non-commutative
ments of string theory, apart from field theory, non- phase space. In the NC phase space the momentum
commutative quantum mechanics (NCQM) has re- operators satisfy the commutation relation
cently attracted much attention;[5−10] this is because
not only is the NC space necessary to the study of the pi , pbj ] = iθ ij ,
[b (3)
low energy effective theory of D-brane with B field
where θij is an anti-symmetric matrix with very small
background, but also because of the occurrence of the
elements representing the non-commutativity prop-
effect of non-commutativity of both space–space and
erty of momentum in the NC phase space. The x bi
momentum–momentum on a very tiny string scale or
and pbi have the following representations:
in a very high energy situation. Many interesting top-
ics of NC quantum theory have been extensively inves- 1
x
bi = αxi − θij pj ,
tigated, from the Aharonov–Bohm effect to the quan- 2αh̄
tum Hall effect.[11−16] 1
pbi = αpi + θ ij xj . (4)
In the NC space, coordinate and momentum op- 2αh̄
erators satisfy the commutation relations Here α is a scaling constant related to the non-
commutativity of phase space. When θ = 0, we can
[b
xi , x
bj ] = iθij , [b
xi , pbj ] = ih̄δij ,
obtain α= 1,[18] which is the case that is extensively
[b
pi , pbj ] = 0, (1) studied in the literature, where the space–space is non-
where θij is an anti-symmetric matrix with very small commuting while momentum–momentum is commut-
elements representing the non-commutativity prop- ing.
erty of space in the NC space. In a general commuta-
tive space the operators x̂i and p̂i in Eq.(1) have the 2. Landau problem in NC space
following representation forms:
1 Consider a charged particle with electric charge q
x
bi = xi − θij pj ,
2h̄ and mass m moving in a two-dimensional plane un-
pbi = pi . (2) der a uniform magnetic field B perpendicular to the
∗ Projectsupported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos 90303003 and 10575026) and the Natural
Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province, China (Grant No M103042).
http://www.iop.org/journals/cp http://cp.iphy.ac.cn
No. 10 Heisenberg algebra for noncommutative Landau problem 2237

plane, and the magnetic vector potential will have the Therefore the angular momentum can be written as
following form:
H(b ω(a+
x, p) =h̄e +
ω (a+
1 a1 + a2 a2 + 1) + ih̄e
+
1 a2 − a2 a1 )
1 1 =h̄e b1 + N
ω(N b2 + 1) − ωe L. (13)
A1 = − Bx2 , A2 = Bx1 . (5)
2 2
According to this function we can determine the de-
The Hamiltonian of the system is
formed creation and annihilation operators as follows:
 2  2 
1 qB qB 1
H= p1 + x2 + p2 − x1 b1 = √ (a1 + ia2 )
2m 2c 2c 2
r
1 2 mω 2 2 me
eω i
= (p1 + p22 ) + (x1 + x22 ) − ωL, (6) = (x1 + ix2 ) + √ (p1 + ip2 ),
2m 2 4h̄ 4h̄me
eω
qB 1 +
where ω = , and L is the angular momentum and b+ +
1 = √ (a1 − ia2 )
2mc 2
determined by r
me
eω i
= (x1 − ix2 ) − √ (p1 − ip2 ),
4h̄ 4h̄me
eω
L = x1 p2 − x2 p1 .
1
b2 = √ (−a1 + ia2 )
Now consider the Landau problem in a two- 2
r
dimensional NC space. In the NC space the me
eω i
= (−x1 + ix2 ) − √ (p1 − ip2 ),
Schrödinger equation can be written as 4h̄ 4h̄me
eω
  1
1 b+ +
2 = √ (−a1 − ia2 )
+
H(b x, pb)ψ = H xi − θεij pj , pi ψ = Eψ. (7) 2
2h̄ r
me
eω i
= (−x1 − ix2 ) + √ (p1 + ip2 ),
And the Hamiltonian for the Landau problem takes 4h̄ 4h̄me
eω
(14)
the form
 2  2  which satisfy Heisenberg algebraic relations
1 qB qB
H(bx, pb) = p1 + x
b2 + p2 − x
b1 [bi , b+
2m 2c 2c j ] = δij ,
  2
1 qB qB [bi , bj ] = [b+ +
i , bj ] = 0. (15)
= 1+ θ p1 + x2
2m 4h̄c 2c
  2  From the expressions (14), we can have angular mo-
qB qB mentum
+ 1+ θ p2 − x1 (8)
4h̄c 2c L = h̄(b+ +
2 b2 − b1 b1 ), (16)
1 2 e ω2 2
me
= (p1 + p22 ) + (x1 + x22 ) − ωe L, (9) and the Hamiltonian (9) now takes the following form:
2m
e 2
where H(b ω (2b+
xi , pi ) = h̄e 1 b1 + 1). (17)

m qB The relevant eigenvectors are

m
e =  2 , ω
e=  . (10)
qB qB (b+ n
1+ θ 2 mc
e 1 + θ 1)
4h̄c |ni = √ |0i , (18)
4h̄c n
For convenience, in a non-commutative space we de- b
and the eigenvalues of H
fine the annihilation and creation operators as
E =h̄e
ω(2n + 1)
r  
me
eω i =h̄e
ω(N + 1) N = 0, 2, 4, ..., (19)
ai = xi + pi ,
2h̄ me
eω N
r   The self-energies correspond to +1 quantum states,
me
eω i 2
a+i = xi − p i , and the energy levels are called Landau levels. It
2h̄ me
eω
is obvious that all results return to the space–space
i = 1, 2, (11)
commuting case while θ = 0. One can easily check
then that the energy shift caused by the space–space non-
commutativity can be given by
[ai , aj ] = 0, [a+ + +
i , aj ] = 0, [ai , aj ] = δij , q2 B 2 θ
∆E = h̄(e
ω − ω)(N + 1) = (N − 1) . (20)
L= ih̄(a+
2 a1 − a+
1 a2 ). (12) 8mc2
2238 Li Kang et al Vol. 15

3. Landau problem in NC phase From Eqs.(4), in the two-dimensional case we have

space x
b1 = αx1 −
1
θp2 ,
2αh̄
The Bose–Einstein statistics in NCQM requires 1
xb2 = αx2 + θp1 ,
both space–space and momentum–momentum non- 2αh̄
1
commutativity. So the momentum–momentum non- pb1 = αp1 + θx2 ,
2αh̄
commutativity should be considered when dealing 1
with physical problems. Thus in a non-commutative pb2 = αp2 − θx1 . (22)
2αh̄
phase space the Schrödinger equation can be written
as where θ, θ̄ and α are related by[18]

1 θ = 4h̄2 α2 (1 − α2 )/θ. (23)
H(b xi , pbi )ψ =H αxi − θεij pj , αpi
2αh̄
 The Hamiltonian for the two-dimensional Landau
1
+ θεij xj ψ = Eψ. (21) problem in the non-commutative phase space is
2αh̄
|
————————————————————————————
 2  2 
1 qB qB
H(bx, pb) = pb1 + b2 + pb2 −
x x
b1
2m 2c 2c
    2     
1 qB qB θ qB qB θ 2
= α+ θ p1 + α+ x2 + α + θ p2 − α+ x1 )
2m 4h̄αc 2c 2h̄α 4h̄αc 2c 2h̄α
1 2 2 me ′ω
e ′2 2
= (p 1 + p 2 ) + (x1 + x22 ) − ω e ′ L, (24)
2m e′ 2
where
qB θ
m α+
m′
e =  ′ c h̄α .
2 , ω
e = (25)
qB qB
α+ θ 2m
e α+
′ θ
4αh̄c 4αh̄c
Similarly we can determine the deformed creation and annihilation operators as follows:
r
1 m
e ′ωe′ i
d1 = √ (a1 + ia2 ) = (x1 + ix2 ) + √ (p1 + ip2 ),
2 4h̄ 4h̄me ′ω
e′
r
1 + me ′ω
e′ i
d+ +
1 = √ (a1 − ia2 ) = (x1 − ix2 ) − √ (p1 − ip2 ),
2 4h̄ 4h̄me ′ωe′
r
1 m
e ′ω
e′ i
d2 = √ (−a1 + ia2 ) = (−x1 + ix2 ) − √ (p1 − ip2 ),
2 4h̄ 4h̄me ′ωe′
r
1 m
e ′ω
e′ i
d+ + +
2 = √ (−a1 − ia2 ) = (−x1 − ix2 ) + √ (p1 + ip2 ), (26)
2 4h̄ 4h̄me ′ω
e′
|————————————————————————————

where and
r  
m
e ′ω
e′ i L = h̄(d+ +
2 d2 − d1 d1 ). (29)
ai = xi + ′ ′ pi ,
2h̄ m
e ω e
r   Therefore the Hamiltonian (24) now is in the form
+ m
e ω
′ e ′ i
ai = xi − ′ ′ pi . (27)
2h̄ me ω e H(b ω ′ (2d+
x, pb) = h̄e 1 d1 + 1). (30)
Similarly, di and d+
jsatisfy the same algebraic rela-
b are
The eigenvalues of H
tions as those in the expression (15),

[di , d+
j ] = δij , ω ′ (2n + 1)
E =h̄e
[di , dj ] = [d+ +
i , dj ] = 0, (28) ω ′ (N + 1),
=h̄e N = 0, 2, 4, ..., (31)
No. 10 Heisenberg algebra for noncommutative Landau problem 2239

and the relevant eigenvectors are where the expression (23) has been used. The last
two terms in Eq.(34) are obviously the contribution of
(d+ )n
|ni = √1 |0i . (32) the non-commutativity of the NC phase space. From
n
Eq.(27) and also
The energy shift caused by the non-commutivity of
both space–space and momentum–momentum can be 1
d1 = √ (a1 + ia2 ),
given as follows: 2
1
d2 = √ (−a1 + ia2 ), (35)
ω ′ − ω)(N + 1)
∆E =h̄(e 2
q 2 B 2 θ + 4c2 θ
=(N − 1) . (33) the angular momentum (34) can be expressed in terms
8mc2
of the Heisenberg algebra of the Landau problem on
From the expression (23), we can easily obtain that NC Phase space as
when α = 1, we can have θ=0, so ω e′ → ω e , and
m ′
e → m, e which corresponds to the case where only 1 ′ ′
L = h̄(d+ +
2 d2 − d1 d1 ) − θ m e (d1 d2 + d+
e ω +
1 d2 ). (36)
the space–space is non-commuting. When θ=0 and 2
θ=0, the results return to the case of general quan- To obtain Eq.(36), the relation between θ and θ has
tum mechanics. been used (see Ref.[18]).
From the Heisenberg algebra of the Landau prob-
lem in NC quantum mechanics, we can not only solve
4. Conclusions
the problem easily and quickly, but also see the non-
commutative effect explicitly: for example, Eqs.(20) In this paper we have studied the Landau prob-
and (33) give out the energy shift caused by the non- lems in NCQM. We have solved the Landau problem
commutativity of space (or NC phase space). The in both NC space and NC phase space separately. We
merit of the method in this paper is that this method obtain the Heisenberg algebraic construction and also
is practical in the study of non-commutative effect of the Landau levels for the model, and finally we ob-
the angular momentum. We take NC phase space for tain the energy shift terms and also the angular mo-
example. The angular momentum can be written as mentum shift terms caused by the space-space non-
L̂ =x̂1 p̂2 − x̂2 p̂1 commutivity as well as momentum-momentum non-
   commutivity. Similarly, this method can also be ap-
θ θ̄
= αx1 − p2 αp2 − x1 plied to other NCQM problems, which will be reported
2αh̄ 2αh̄
   in our forthcoming papers.
θ θ̄
− αx2 + p1 αp1 + x2
2αh̄ 2αh̄
θ̄ 2
Acknowledgment
=(x1 p2 − x2 p1 ) + (x + x22 )
2h̄ 1
We would like to thank Professor Sayipjamal Du-
θ 2
− (p + p22 ), (34) lat and Wang Jian-Hua for useful discussion.
2h̄ 1

———————————————————————————

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