A novel approach for constructing kinetic energy operators with position dependent mass

Abstract

The interest in physical systems with position-dependent mass (PDM) is always topical. In this work we present a new way to construct kinetic energy operators (KEO's) for particles endowed with a position varying mass within the Schrödinger equation. Taking recent developments of non-Hermitian quantum mechanics into account, we start with a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian and we recall that it is quasi-Hermitian and can be always associated to a Hermitian partner. The latter is then used along with the formalism of supersymmetric quantum mechanics (SUSY QM) to generate exactly solvable models on the basis of shape invariance condition. Some known and new concrete examples are considered as illustrations of the proposed scheme.