Title of lectures

Completeness of Multiseparable Superintegrability

Lecturer:

Willard MILLER, IMA, Univ. of Minnesota

Outline:

It has long been known that there are potentials on N-dimensional constant curvature spaces for which a given Hamiltonian system in classical mechanics, and Schroedinger equation in quantum mechanics, admits solutions via separation of variables in more than one coordinate system. Smorodinsky, Winternitz et.al., initiated the methodical search for such potentials in two and three dimensions, and there has been a considerable amount of work for various examples. A subset of such systems is called maximal in dimension N if there exist 2N-1 functionally independent integrals of motion. In some papers, such systems are called superintegrable.

Lecture 1
In the first talk we outline the basic ideas relating to the notion of superintegrability. The fundamental notion we introduce is that of simultaneous separability of the Schroedinger or Hamilton-Jacobi equation in more than one coordinate system. The energy observable is degenerate for potentials of this type and the corresponding observables that arise from the simultaneous separability close quadratically under repeated commutation. We give examples of these systems and indicate how superintegrability can be of use, particularly in relation to bound states. Virtually all of the special functions of mathematical physics (in one and several variables) arise in this study and formulas expanding one type of special function as a series in another type emerge as a byproduct.

Lecture 2
The second talk addresses these questions in a more unified manner and describes how one can, in principle, classify all such systems and deduce the structure of the quadratic algebra.


References:

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