Quantum integrability of the dynamics on a group manifold

Abstract

We study the dynamics of a particle moving on the SU(2) group manifold. An exact quantization of this system is accomplished by finding the unitary and irreducible representations of a finite-dimensional Lie subalgebra of the whole Poisson algebra in phase space. In fact, the basic position and momentum operators, as well as the Hamiltonian, are found in the enveloping algebra of the anti-de Sitter group SO(3,2). The present algorithm mimics the one previously used in Ref. [1]. Our construction can be extended to more general semi-simple Lie groups. This framework would allow us to achieve the quantization of the geodesic motion in a symmetric pseudo-Riemannian manifold. Copyright © 2008 by V Aldaya, M Calixto, J Guerrero and F F López-Ruiz.