Lowest eigenstate of hopping matrix

  • Context: Graduate 
  • Thread starter Thread starter Fightfish
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Eigenstate Matrix
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion focuses on the ground state of a Bose-Hubbard dimer in the negligible interaction limit, specifically examining the eigenstates of a two-site hopping matrix. Participants explore the structure of the matrix and the pattern of the unnormalized eigenstate coefficients, which appear to relate to Pascal's triangle.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Mathematical reasoning

Main Points Raised

  • One participant describes the form of the hopping matrix and provides explicit examples for different numbers of particles, noting its hollow centrosymmetric tridiagonal structure.
  • Another participant observes that the entries of the eigenstate coefficients resemble Pascal's triangle with square roots applied, though they do not provide a proof.
  • A third participant confirms the resemblance to Pascal's triangle and corrects a previous error regarding Fibonacci numbers.
  • One participant inquires about the corresponding eigenvectors, suggesting that they may help in proving the observed pattern.
  • A later reply clarifies that the coefficients following the Pascal-triangle pattern are the unnormalized coefficients of the eigenvector with the lowest eigenvalue for varying n.
  • Another participant provides a mathematical expression related to the components of the eigenstate, suggesting it should relate to binomial coefficients, while also noting potential index errors.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the resemblance of the eigenstate coefficients to Pascal's triangle, but no consensus is reached regarding a formal proof or the exact nature of the relationship. The discussion remains exploratory and unresolved.

Contextual Notes

There are unresolved mathematical steps regarding the proof of the relationship between the eigenstate coefficients and Pascal's triangle, as well as potential index errors in the expressions provided.

Fightfish
Messages
953
Reaction score
118
So, I was examining the ground state of a Bose-Hubbard dimer in the negligible interaction limit, which essentially amounts to constructing and diagonalizing a two-site hopping matrix that has the form
[tex] H_{i,i+1}^{(n)} = H_{i+1,i}^{(n)} = - \sqrt{i}\sqrt{n-i+1},[/tex]
with all other elements zero. The superscript [itex]n[/itex] refers to the fixed number of particles present on the dimer, and the dimension of the matrix is given by [itex]n+1[/itex].

Essentially this gives rise to a hollow centrosymmetric tridiagonal matrix. Explicitly, we have:
[tex] H^{(2)} =<br /> \left(<br /> \begin{array}{ccc}<br /> 0 & -\sqrt{2} & 0 \\<br /> -\sqrt{2} & 0 & -\sqrt{2} \\<br /> 0 & -\sqrt{2} & 0 \\<br /> \end{array}<br /> \right)[/tex][tex] H^{(3)} =<br /> \left(<br /> \begin{array}{cccc}<br /> 0 & -\sqrt{3} & 0 & 0 \\<br /> -\sqrt{3} & 0 & -2 & 0 \\<br /> 0 & -2 & 0 & -\sqrt{3} \\<br /> 0 & 0 & -\sqrt{3} & 0 \\<br /> \end{array}<br /> \right)[/tex][tex] H^{(4)} =<br /> \left(<br /> \begin{array}{ccccc}<br /> 0 & -2 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\<br /> -2 & 0 & -\sqrt{6} & 0 & 0 \\<br /> 0 & -\sqrt{6} & 0 & -\sqrt{6} & 0 \\<br /> 0 & 0 & -\sqrt{6} & 0 & -2 \\<br /> 0 & 0 & 0 & -2 & 0 \\<br /> \end{array}<br /> \right)[/tex] and so on.

In examining the unnormalized eigenstate with the lowest (most negative) eigenvalue, there seems to exist a Pascal-triangle-like sequence:
[tex]|\psi_{g}^{(1)}\rangle= [1,1][/tex][tex]|\psi_{g}^{(2)}\rangle= [1,\sqrt{2},1][/tex][tex]|\psi_{g}^{(2)}\rangle= [1,\sqrt{3},\sqrt{3},1][/tex][tex]|\psi_{g}^{(3)}\rangle= [1,\sqrt{4},\sqrt{6},\sqrt{4},1][/tex][tex]|\psi_{g}^{(4)}\rangle= [1,\sqrt{5},\sqrt{10},\sqrt{10},\sqrt{5},1][/tex]
This is highly suggestive that some sort of recurrence relation or mapping to binomial expansion exists; however thus far I have not been successful in trying to extract it. Might some one be able to shed some light on this?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Those entries look like Pascal's triangle (with an additional square root applied).
I don't have a proof, but the numbers all match.
 
mfb said:
Those entries look like Pascal's triangle.
I don't have a proof, but the numbers all match.
Yes, I meant to say Pascal's triangle, but somehow ended up writing Fibonacci lol ><
Anyway, I've edited to original post to fix that error.
 
Do you have the corresponding eigenvectors? It might be easier to prove a pattern based on those.
 
Probably I kinda presented it in a slightly confusing manner, but the entities that follow the Pascal-triangle pattern are actually the unnormalized coefficients of the eigenvector with the lowest eigenvalue for differing various of [itex](n)[/itex].
 
Oh sorry, I misread your description. Then the proof should not need magic. The i'th component of ##H^{(n)} |\psi_{g}^{(n)}\rangle## is

$$-\sqrt{i-1}\sqrt{n-i+2} \sqrt{{n+1} \choose{ i-1}} + -\sqrt{i}\sqrt{n-i+1} \sqrt{{n+1} \choose {i+1}}$$
and this should be a constant multiple of
$$\sqrt{{n+1} \choose i}$$
plus minus some index errors I made.
 

Similar threads

  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
2K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
2K
  • · Replies 13 ·
Replies
13
Views
4K
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
2K
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
2K
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
1K
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
2K
Replies
7
Views
1K
  • · Replies 16 ·
Replies
16
Views
2K