Dynamical Groups

Abstract

The well known symmetry (invariance, degeneracy) groups or algebras of quantum mechanical Hamiltonians provide quantum numbers (conservation laws, integrals of motion) for state labeling and the associated selection rules. In addition, it is often advantageous to employ much larger groups, referred to as the dynamical groups (noninvariance groups, dynamical algebras, spectrum generating algebras), which may or may not be the invariance groups of the studied system [4.1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. In all known cases, they are Lie groups (LGs), or rather corresponding Lie algebras (LAs), and one usually requires that all states of interest of a system be contained in a single irreducible representation (irrep). Likewise, one may require that the Hamiltonian be expressible in terms of the Casimir operators of the corresponding universal enveloping algebra [4.8,9]. In a weaker sense, one regards any group (or corresponding algebra) as a dynamical group if the Hamiltonian can be expressed in terms of its generators [4.10,11,12]. In nuclear physics, one sometimes distinguishes exact (baryon number preserving), almost exact (e.g., total isospin), approximate (e.g., SU(3) of the “eightfold way”) and model (e.g., nuclear shell model) dynamical symmetries [4.13]. The dynamical groups of interest in atomic and molecular physics can be conveniently classified by their topological characteristic of compactness. Noncompact LGs (LAs) generally arise in simple problems involving an infinite number of bound states, while those involving a finite number of bound states (e.g., molecular vibrations or ab initio models of electronic structure) exploit compact LG's.

We follow the convention of designating Lie groups by capital letters and Lie algebras by lower case letters, e.g., the Lie algebra of the rotation group SO(3) is designated as so(3).