U(3) and Pseudo-U(3) Symmetry of the Relativistic Harmonic Oscillator

Abstract

We show that a Dirac Hamiltonian with equal scalar and vector harmonic oscillator potentials has not only a spin symmetry but an U(3) symmetry and that a Dirac Hamiltonian with scalar and vector harmonic oscillator potentials equal in magnitude but opposite in sign has not only a pseudospin symmetry but a pseudo-U(3) symmetry. We derive the generators of the symmetry for each case.

Comments: 8 pages, 0 figures, pusblished in Physical Review Letters 95, 252501 (2005)