Quantum mechanical bootstrap on the interval: obtaining the exact spectrum

Abstract

We show that for a particular model, the quantum mechanical bootstrap is capable of finding exact results. We consider a solvable system with Hamiltonian $H=SZ(1-Z)S$, where $Z$ and $S$ satisfy canonical commutation relations. While this model may appear unusual, using an appropriate coordinate transformation, the Schrödinger equation can be cast into a standard form with a Pöschl-Teller-type potential. Since the system is defined on an interval, it is well-known that $S$ is not self-adjoint. Nevertheless, the bootstrap method can still be implemented, producing an infinite set of positivity constraints. Using a certain operator ordering, the energy eigenvalues are only constrained into bands. With an alternative ordering, however, we find that a finite number of constraints is sufficient to fix the low-lying energy levels exactly.

32 pages, 10 figures