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# Pseudo-Supersymmetric Quantum Mechanics and Isospectral Pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonians

## 1 Introduction

In a recent series of papers  we have reported a comprehensive study of the necessary and sufficient conditions for the reality of the spectrum of a general (not necessarily Hermitian) diagonalizable Hamiltonian. We also elucidated the consequences of antilinear symmetries, such as $`PT`$-symmetry , on the spectral properties of a diagonalizable Hamiltonian. The essential ingredient of this analysis is the notion of a pseudo-Hermitian operator. In  we also introduced a generalization of supersymmetric quantum mechanics  called pseudo-supersymmetric quantum mechanics that applied for $`_2`$-graded quantum systems  with a pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonian. The purpose of this article is to explore various properties and applications of pseudo-supersymmetry. In particular, we establish the fact that all the available methods of generating non-Hermitian Hamiltonians with a real spectrum by intertwining the latter with Hermitian Hamiltonians  fit to the framework provided by pseudo-supersymmetry. We also point out the implications of pseudo-supersymmetry for ordinary unitary quantum mechanics.

In this article we shall only consider the Hamiltonians that are diagonalizable and have a discrete spectrum. By this we mean that $`H`$ admits a complete biorthonormal system of eigenvectors $`\{|\psi _n,a,|\varphi _n,a\}`$. The latter satisfy the following defining properties .

$`H|\psi _n,a=E_n|\psi _n,a,H^{}|\varphi _n,a=E_n^{}|\varphi _n,a,`$ (1)
$`\varphi _m,b|\psi _n,a=\delta _{mn}\delta _{ab},`$ (2)
$`{\displaystyle \underset{n}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{a=1}{\overset{d_n}{}}}|\varphi _n,a\psi _n,a|={\displaystyle \underset{n}{}}{\displaystyle \underset{a=1}{\overset{d_n}{}}}|\psi _n,a\varphi _n,a|=1,`$ (3)
where a dagger stands for the adjoint of the corresponding operator, $`d_n`$ is the multiplicity (degree of degeneracy) of the eigenvalue $`E_n`$, $`n`$ is the spectral label, and $`a`$ and $`b`$ are degeneracy labels.

The organization of the article is as follows. In Sections 2 and 3, we review the basic properties of pseudo-Hermitian operators and pseudo-supersymmetric quantum mechanics. In Section 4 we study the Witten index of pseudo-supersymmetry. In Section 5, we show that every diagonalizable pair of isospectral Hamiltonians are related by an intertwining relation. We then specialize to the case of pseudo-Hermitian isospectral pairs of Hamiltonians with identical degeneracy structure except possibly for the zero eigenvalue, and show that they are related by a pseudo-supersymmetry transformation. In Section 6, we examine the applications of the ideas developed in Section 5 for general nondegenerate two-level Hamiltonians. Finally, in Section 7, we summarize our main results and present our concluding remarks.

## 2 Pseudo-Hermiticity and Its Consequences

Let $`_\pm `$ be Hilbert spaces, $`A:_+_{}`$ be a linear operator and $`\eta _\pm :_\pm _\pm `$ be linear (or antilinear) Hermitian, invertible operators. Then the pseudo-adjoint $`A^{\mathrm{}}:_{}_+`$ of $`A`$ with respect to $`\eta _\pm `$ is defined by

$$A^{\mathrm{}}:=\eta _+^1A\eta _{}.$$
(4)
Now suppose that $`_+=_{}`$ is the Hilbert space $``$ of a quantum system with a Hamiltonian $`H`$ and $`\eta _{}=\eta _+=:\eta `$. Then $`H`$ is said to be pseudo-Hermitian with respect to $`\eta `$ if $`H^{\mathrm{}}=H`$, i.e.,

$$H^{}=\eta H\eta ^1.$$
(5)
$`H`$ is said to be pseudo-Hermitian if there is a linear, Hermitian, invertible operator $`\eta `$ with respect to which $`H`$ is pseudo-Hermitian.

The basic properties of pseudo-Hermitian operators are given in . See also . The role of pseudo-Hermiticity in characterizing non-Hermitian Hamiltonians with a real spectrum and the relation to antilinear symmetries are discussed in  and . In the following we summarize the main results of .

* Theorem 1: The following are equivalent.

1. The eigenvalues of $`H`$ are either real or come in complex-conjugate pairs.
    2. $`H`$ is pseudo-Hermitian with respect to a linear Hermitian invertible operator $`\eta :`$.
    3. $`H`$ has an (antilinear) symmetry generated by an antilinear operator $`\sigma `$, $`[H,\sigma ]=0`$.
* Theorem 2: The following are equivalent.

1. $`H`$ has a real spectrum.
    2. $`H`$ is pseudo-Hermitian with respect to $`O^{}O`$ for some linear invertible operator $`O:`$.111There is a minor error in : With $`O`$ as defined in Equation (9) of , $`H`$ is pseudo-Hermitian with respect to $`(OO^{})^1`$.
    3. $`H`$ is related to a Hermitian operator $`h:`$ by a similarity transformation, namely

    $$H=O^1hO,$$
    (6)
    where $`O:`$ is a linear invertible operator.

Given a pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonian $`H`$ there are infinitely many $`\eta `$ satisfying (5). These can however be expressed in terms of a complete biorthonormal basis $`\{|\psi _n,a,|\varphi _n,a\}`$ of $`H`$ and a set of Hermitian matrices $`M^{(n)}`$. To see this, we shall use $`n_0`$ and $`\pm \nu `$ to denote the spectral label $`n`$ corresponding to eigenvalues with $`0`$ and $`\pm `$ imaginary part, respectively. Then in view of (1) – (3) and the fact that the complex eigenvalues come in complex-conjugate pairs, i.e., $`E_\nu =E_\nu ^{}`$, we have

$$H=\underset{n_0}{}\underset{a=1}{\overset{d_{n_0}}{}}E_{n_0}|\psi _{n_0},a\varphi _{n_0},a|+\underset{\nu }{}\underset{a=1}{\overset{d_\nu }{}}\left(E_\nu |\psi _\nu ,a\varphi _\nu ,a|+E_\nu ^{}|\psi _\nu ,a\varphi _\nu ,a|\right).$$
(7)
In view of this relation, one can show that the most general linear, Hermitian, invertible operator $`\eta `$ satisfying (5) has the canonical form

$$\eta =\underset{n_0}{}\underset{a,b=1}{\overset{d_{n_0}}{}}M_{ab}^{(n_0)}|\varphi _{n_0},a\varphi _{n_0},b|+\underset{\nu }{}\underset{a,b=1}{\overset{d_\nu }{}}\left(M_{ab}^{(\nu )}|\varphi _\nu ,a\varphi _\nu ,b|+M_{}^{(\nu )}{}_{ab}{}^{}|\varphi _\nu ,a\varphi _\nu ,b|\right),$$

where $`M_{ab}^{(n_0)}=\psi _{n_0},a|\eta |\psi _{n_0},b`$ and $`M_{ab}^{(\nu )}=\psi _\nu ,a|\eta |\psi _\nu ,b`$ are respectively the entries of invertible $`d_{n_0}\times d_{n_0}`$ and $`d_\nu \times d_\nu `$ matrices $`M^{(n_0)}`$ and $`M^{(\nu )}`$. Clearly $`M^{(n_0)}`$ are Hermitian.

It is not difficult to check that under a change of basis: $`|\psi _n,a_{b=1}^{d_n}V_{ba}^{(n)}|\psi _n,b`$, with $`V_{ab}^{(n)}`$ being the entries of an arbitrary invertible matrix $`V^{(n)}`$ and $`n=n_0,\nu \pm `$, the matrices $`M^{(n)}`$ change according to

$$M^{(n_0)}V_{}^{(n_0)}{}_{}{}^{}M^{(n_0)}V^{(n_0)},M^{(\nu )}V_{}^{(\nu )}{}_{}{}^{}M^{(\nu )}V^{(\nu )}.$$

This in turn implies that one can make a change of basis, i.e., choose the matrices $`V_{ab}^{(n)}`$ so that after the transformation, $`M^{(\nu )}`$ are identity matrices and $`M^{(n_0)}`$ are diagonal matrices with $`+1`$ or $`1`$ diagonal entries.222The fact that one cannot remove the minus signs form the diagonal entries of $`M^{(n_0)}`$ has been overlooked in . This does not however affect any of its conclusions, as none of the results of  uses the erroneous assumption that one may transform $`M^{(n_0)}`$ to identity matrices. This is because one can always choose to work with an $`\eta `$ for which $`M^{(n_0)}`$ are positive-definite matrices. In this case there is a basis transformation that maps them to identity matrices. The latter is based on the same argument as the one used in the derivation of the canonical form of a nondegenerate real symmetric bilinear (or more generally a Hermitian sesquilinear) form in linear algebra .

In view of the transformation properties of the matrices $`M^{(n)}`$, there is a biorthonormal basis of eigenvectors of $`H`$ in which $`\eta `$ takes the form

$$\eta =\underset{n_0}{}\underset{a=1}{\overset{d_{n_0}}{}}\sigma _a^{n_0}|\varphi _{n_0},a\varphi _{n_0},a|+\underset{\nu }{}\underset{a=1}{\overset{d_\nu }{}}\left(|\varphi _\nu ,a\varphi _\nu ,a|+|\varphi _\nu ,a\varphi _\nu ,a|\right),$$
(8)
where $`\sigma _a^{n_0}\{1,1\}.`$ In other words we have the following.

* Proposition: Let $`H`$ be a diagonalizable pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonian with a discrete spectrum. Then up to the choice of eigenvectors of $`H`$, the linear, Hermitian, invertible operators with respect to which $`H`$ is pseudo-Hermitian are determined by a set of signs $`\sigma _a^{(n_0)}`$ where $`n_0`$ labels the real eigenvalues of $`H`$, $`a\{1,2,\mathrm{},d_{n_0}\}`$, and $`d_{n_0}`$ is the multiplicity of the eigenvalue labeled by $`n_0`$.

We wish to conclude this section with the following remark.

In , we show that every diagonalizable Hamiltonian $`H`$ with a discrete spectrum is pseudo-Hermitian with respect to an antilinear Hermitian, invertible operator $`𝒯`$, i.e., $`H`$ is anti-pseudo-Hermitian. This result is essential for the proof of Theorem 1, . In  we discuss a factorization property of symmetric matrices that may be used to show that unlike $`\eta `$, $`𝒯`$ is unique up to basis transformations.

## 3 Pseudo-Supersymmetry

Consider a Hilbert space $``$ which is endowed with a pair of linear operators, $`\tau ,𝒬:`$, satisfying

$$\tau =\tau ^{}=\tau ^1,\{\tau ,𝒬\}=0.$$
(9)
These are sufficient to conclude that $`\tau `$ is a $`_2`$-grading operator, $``$ is $`_2`$-graded , i.e., $`=_+_{}`$ with

$$_\pm :=\{|\psi _\pm |\tau |\psi _\pm =\pm |\psi _\pm \},$$

and $`𝒬`$ is an odd operator, i.e., $`𝒬`$ maps $`\pm `$ to $``$. Next, let $`\eta :`$ be a linear Hermitian invertible operator that commutes with $`\tau `$, i.e., $`\eta `$ is an even operator, and

$$𝒬^2=𝒬^\mathrm{}2=0,\{𝒬,𝒬^{\mathrm{}}\}=2H,$$
(10)
where $`\mathrm{}`$ is defined with respect to $`\eta `$. Equations (10), which in particular imply $`[𝒬,H]=0`$, define the algebra of $`N=2`$ pseudo-supersymmetric quantum mechanics.333We use $`N`$ to denote the number of pseudo-Hermitian generators of pseudo-supersymmetry. According to the last equation in (10) the Hamiltonian $`H`$ is an even pseudo-Hermitian operator, and the quantum system has a pseudo-supersymmetry generated by $`𝒬`$.

Following the ordinary supersymmetric quantum mechanics, we can obtain a simple two-component realization of pseudo-supersymmetry in which the state vectors $`|\psi `$, the grading operator $`\tau `$, the pseudo-supersymmetry generator $`𝒬`$, the Hamiltonian $`H`$, and the operator $`\eta `$ are respectively represented as

$`|\psi `$ $`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{c}|\psi _+\\ |\psi _{}\end{array}\right),\tau =\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right),𝒬=\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& 0\\ D& 0\end{array}\right),`$ (17)
$`H`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}H_+& 0\\ 0& H_{}\end{array}\right),\eta =\left(\begin{array}{cc}\eta _+& 0\\ 0& \eta _{}\end{array}\right),`$ (22)
where $`|\psi _\pm _\pm `$, $`D:_+_{}`$ is a linear operator, $`H_\pm :=H|__\pm `$, and $`\eta _\pm :=\eta |__\pm `$. Note that in view of (10) – (22),

$$H_+:=\frac{1}{2}D^{\mathrm{}}D,H_{}:=\frac{1}{2}DD^{\mathrm{}},$$
(23)
where

$$D^{\mathrm{}}=\eta _+^1D^{}\eta _{}.$$
(24)
This follows from (17), (22), and $`𝒬^{\mathrm{}}:=\eta ^1𝒬^{}\eta `$.

Moreover, it is not difficult to see that the pseudo-Hermiticity of $`H`$ with respect to $`\eta `$ implies pseudo-Hermiticity of $`H_\pm :_\pm _\pm `$ with respect to $`\eta _\pm `$ and that $`H_\pm `$ satisfy the intertwining relations

$$DH_+=H_{}D,D^{\mathrm{}}H_{}=H_+D^{\mathrm{}}.$$
(25)
As a consequence, $`H_+`$ and $`H_{}`$ are isospectral, $`D`$ maps the eigenvectors of $`H_+`$ to those of $`H_{}`$ and $`D^{\mathrm{}}`$ does the converse, except for those eigenvectors that are eliminated by these operators. In  we used this observation to construct a class of complex potentials with a real spectrum. Other applications of the notion of pseudo-Hermiticity and pseudo-supersymmetry have been explored in .

In view of the analogy with supersymmetry we shall call $`H_+`$ and $`H_{}`$ pseudo-superpartner Hamiltonians. It is clear that as a result of the intertwining relations (25) these Hamiltonians have the same multiplicity for their nonzero eigenvalues. Therefore, similarly to the case of superpartner Hamiltonians in ordinary supersymmetric quantum mechanics, $`H_+`$ and $`H_{}`$ have identical degeneracy structure except possibly for the zero eigenvalue.

We end this section by the following two comments.

* One may easily generalize the algebra (10) of $`N=2`$ pseudo-supersymmetry to the case where there are $`𝒩`$ (non-pseudo-Hermitian) odd generators, $`𝒬_1,𝒬_2,\mathrm{},𝒬_𝒩`$. This yields the algebra of pseudo-supersymmetry of order $`N=2𝒩`$, namely

$$𝒬_i^2=𝒬_i^\mathrm{}2=0,\{𝒬_i,𝒬_j^{\mathrm{}}\}=2\delta _{ij}H,$$
(26)
where $`i,j\{1,2,\mathrm{}𝒩\}`$. Equivalently, one may introduce the $`N`$ pseudo-Hermitian generators:

$$Q_i^1:=\frac{𝒬+𝒬^{\mathrm{}}}{\sqrt{2}},Q_i^2:=\frac{𝒬𝒬^{\mathrm{}}}{\sqrt{2}i},$$

and express (26) in the form

$$\{Q_i^\alpha ,Q_j^\beta \}=\delta _{ij}\delta _{\alpha \beta }H,$$

where $`\alpha ,\beta \{1,2\}`$ and $`i,j\{1,2,\mathrm{}𝒩\}`$.
* Pseudo-supersymmetry of order $`N`$ has the same spectral degeneracy structure as the supersymmetry of order $`N`$, i.e., the eigenspaces with nonzero eigenvalues are spanned by pairs of pseudo-superpartner basis vectors $`(|\psi ,𝒬_i|\psi )`$. The only difference is that the spectrum of a pseudo-supersymmetric Hamiltonian $`H`$ may in general include negative as well as complex(-conjugate pairs) of eigenvalues.

## 4 Witten Index of Pseudo-Supersymmetry

Using the analogy with ordinary supersymmetry, we define the Witten index of pseudo-supersymmetry according to

$$\mathrm{\Delta }:=d_0^{(+)}d_0^{()},$$
(27)
where

$`d_0^{(+)}`$ $`:=`$ $`\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{ker}(H_+)]=\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{ker}(D^{\mathrm{}}D)],`$ (28)
$`d_0^{()}`$ $`:=`$ $`\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{ker}(H_{})]=\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{ker}(DD^{\mathrm{}})],`$ (29)
and ‘dim’ and ‘ker’ abbreviate ‘dimension’ and ‘kernel’, respectively. As the eigenspaces of $`H`$ that are associated with nonzero eigenvalues consist of pseudo-superpartner pairs of state vectors $`(|\psi ,D|\psi )`$, under continuous pseudo-supersymmetry preserving deformations of $`H`$ or $``$ the Witten index is left invariant. Hence it is a topological invariant.

In order to reveal the mathematical meaning of the $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$, we first observe that according to Equations (23),

$$\mathrm{ker}(D)_+^{(0)}\mathrm{and}\mathrm{ker}(D^{\mathrm{}})_{}^{(0)},$$
(30)
where

$$_\pm ^{(0)}:=\mathrm{ker}(H_\pm )$$
(31)
is the eigenspace of $`H_\pm `$ with zero eigenvalue. It is not difficult to see that by virtue of (23), $`D`$ maps $`_+^{(0)}`$ to $`_{}^{(0)}`$ and $`D^{\mathrm{}}`$ does the converse. This suggests the definition of the restriction of $`D`$ and $`D^{\mathrm{}}`$ to $`_+^{(0)}`$ and $`_{}^{(0)}`$, namely

$$D_0:=D|_{_+^{(0)}}:_+^{(0)}_{}^{(0)},D_0^{\mathrm{}}:=D^{\mathrm{}}|_{_{}^{(0)}}:_{}^{(0)}_+^{(0)}.$$
(32)
It is not difficult to see that in view of (30) and (32),

$`\mathrm{ker}(D)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{ker}(D_0),\mathrm{ker}(D^{\mathrm{}})=\mathrm{ker}(D_0^{\mathrm{}}),`$ (33)
$`D_0^{\mathrm{}}D_0`$ $`=`$ $`(D^{\mathrm{}}D)|_{_+^{(0)}}=0,D_0D_0^{\mathrm{}}=(DD^{\mathrm{}})|_{_{}^{(0)}}=0.`$ (34)
It turns out that $`D_0^{\mathrm{}}D_0^{\mathrm{}}`$. In order to clarify the role of $`D_0^{\mathrm{}}`$, we introduce444Here we also make use of the fact that $`\stackrel{~}{D}_0^{}`$ maps $`\stackrel{~}{}_{}^{(0)}`$ to $`\stackrel{~}{}_+^{(0)}`$.

$`\stackrel{~}{}_\pm ^{(0)}`$ $`:=`$ $`\eta _\pm _\pm ^{(0)}:=\{\eta _\pm |\psi _\pm ||\psi _\pm ^{(0)}\},`$ (35)
$`\stackrel{~}{D}_0^{}`$ $`:=`$ $`D^{}|_{\stackrel{~}{}_{}^{(0)}}:\stackrel{~}{}_{}^{(0)}\stackrel{~}{}_+^{(0)}.`$ (36)
Then, we can check that the diagram

$$\begin{array}{ccc}_{}^{(0)}& \stackrel{D_0^{\mathrm{}}}{}& _+^{(0)}\\ \eta _{}& & \eta _+^1\\ \stackrel{~}{}_{}^{(0)}& \stackrel{\stackrel{~}{D}_0^{}}{}& \stackrel{~}{}_+^{(0)}\end{array}$$

is commutative, i.e.,

$$D_0^{\mathrm{}}=\eta _+^1\stackrel{~}{D}_0^{}\eta _{},$$
(37)
and that

$$\mathrm{ker}(D^{})=\mathrm{ker}(\stackrel{~}{D}_0^{})\stackrel{~}{}_{}^{(0)}.$$
(38)
Next, consider the operators

$$A_+:=\eta _{}D_0:_+^{(0)}\stackrel{~}{}_{}^{(0)},A_{}:=\eta _+^1\stackrel{~}{D}_0^{}:\stackrel{~}{}_{}^{(0)}_+^{(0)}.$$
(39)
Then in view of (23), (37), (36) and (31), we have $`A_+A_{}=0`$ and $`A_{}A_+=0`$. This implies that the sequence

$$\mathrm{\Sigma }:_+^{(0)}\stackrel{A_+}{}\stackrel{~}{}_{}^{(0)}\stackrel{A_{}}{}_+^{(0)}\stackrel{A_+}{}\stackrel{~}{}_{}^{(0)}$$
(40)
is a complex. The Betti numbers $`b_\pm `$ and the analytic index of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }`$ are respectively defined by

$`b_\pm :=\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{ker}(A_\pm )/\mathrm{Im}(A_{})]=\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{ker}(A_\pm )]\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{Im}(A_{})],`$ (41)
$`\mathrm{Analytic}\mathrm{Index}(\mathrm{\Sigma }):=b_+b_{},`$ (42)
where ‘Im’ abbreviates ‘Image’.

Now, in view of the fact that $`\eta _\pm `$ are invertible operators (vector-space isomorphisms) and using Equations (37) and (39), we have

$`\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{ker}(A_+)]=\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{ker}(D_0)],\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{ker}(A_{})]=\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{ker}(D_0^{\mathrm{}})],`$
$`\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{Im}(A_+)]=\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{Im}(D_0)],\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{Im}(A_{})]=\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{Im}(D_0^{\mathrm{}})].`$
Hence,

$`\mathrm{Analytic}\mathrm{Index}(\mathrm{\Sigma })`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{ker}(D_0)]+\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{Im}(D_0)]\left\{\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{ker}(D_0^{\mathrm{}})]+\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{Im}(D_0^{\mathrm{}})]\right\}`$ (43)
$`=`$ $`d_0^{(+)}d_0^{()}.`$
Here in the last equation we have made use of the fact that $`D_0`$ and $`D_0^{\mathrm{}}`$ are linear maps relating $`d_0^{(\pm )}`$-dimensional vector spaces $`_\pm ^{(0)}`$, so that

$`\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{ker}(D_0)]+\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{Im}(D_0)]`$ $`=`$ $`d_0^{(+)},`$
$`\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{ker}(D_0^{\mathrm{}})]+\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{Im}(D_0^{\mathrm{}})]`$ $`=`$ $`d_0^{()}.`$
Equations (27) and (43) show that the Witten index of pseudo-supersymmetry coincides with the analytic index of a complex of Fredholm operators,

$$\mathrm{\Delta }=\mathrm{Analytic}\mathrm{Index}(\mathrm{\Sigma }).$$
(44)
Next, we consider the special case where the restriction of $`\eta _\pm `$ onto $`_\pm ^{(0)}`$ is positive-definite (or negative-definite), i.e., for all nonzero $`|\psi _\pm _\pm ^{(0)}\{0\}`$, $`|\psi _\pm |\psi _\pm _\pm |:=|\psi _\pm |\eta _\pm |\psi _\pm |>0`$. This means that $`H_\pm `$ have no null eigenvectors with zero eigenvalue, or equivalently there is a complete biorthonormal basis of $`_\pm `$ in which $`\eta _\pm `$ has the canonical form (8) with arbitrary signs $`\sigma _n^a`$ for all nonzero eigenvalues $`E_n`$ and only positive (or negative) signs for the zero eigenvalue (if there is any). Now, consider an element $`|\psi _+_+^{(0)}`$ and let $`|\psi _{}:=D_0|\psi _+=D|\psi _+`$. Then, in view of (31) and (37), we have

$$\psi _{}|\psi _{}_{}=\psi _{}|\eta _{}|\psi _{}=\psi _+|D^{}\eta _{}D|\psi _+=\psi _+|\eta _+D^{\mathrm{}}D|\psi _+=0.$$

Because we consider the case where $`_+^{(0)}`$ has no nonzero null elements, this calculation shows that $`D_0|\psi _+=|\psi _{}=0`$, i.e., $`|\psi _+`$ belongs to ker$`(D_0)`$. Therefore, $`\mathrm{ker}(D_0)=_+^{(0)}`$ and $`d_0^{(+)}=\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{ker}(D_0)]`$. We can similarly show that if $`_+^{(0)}`$ includes no nonzero null vectors, then $`\mathrm{ker}(D_0^{\mathrm{}})=_{}^{(0)}`$ and $`d_0^{(+)}=\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{ker}(D_0^{\mathrm{}})]`$. Therefore, in this case, the Witten index takes the form

$$\mathrm{\Delta }=\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{ker}(D_0)]\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{ker}(D_0^{\mathrm{}})].$$
(45)
Next, we employ Equations (33) and recall that because $`D^{\mathrm{}}=\eta _+^1D^{}\eta _{}`$ and $`\eta _\pm `$ are invertible operators, $`\mathrm{ker}(D^{\mathrm{}})=\mathrm{ker}(D^{})`$. These together with (45) lead to

$$\mathrm{\Delta }=\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{ker}(D)]\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{ker}(D^{\mathrm{}})]=\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{ker}(D)]\mathrm{dim}[\mathrm{ker}(D^{})]=:\mathrm{Analytic}\mathrm{Index}(D).$$
(46)
Hence, in this case the Witten index is identical with the analytic index of $`D`$.

As we pointed out, the analysis leading to (46) applies if $`H_+`$ and $`H_{}`$ have no null eigenvectors with zero eigenvalue.555In this case, the method pursued in  fails to apply. However, as we show in Section 5 the Hamiltonians $`H_+`$ and $`H_{}`$ always admit a factorization of the form

$$H_+=L^{\mathrm{}}L,H_{}=LL^{\mathrm{}},$$
(47)
where $`L:_+_{}`$ is a linear operator $`L:_+_{}`$ whose pseudo-adjoint $`L^{\mathrm{}}:=\eta _+^{}_{}{}^{}1L^{}\eta _{}^{}`$ is defined in terms of linear Hermitian invertible operators $`\eta _\pm ^{}`$ with the property that in the pseudo-norm defined by $`\eta _\pm ^{}`$ none of the eigenvectors of $`H_\pm `$ with zero eigenvalue is null. Therefore, the argument of the preceding paragraph holds and we can always express the Witten index as the analytic index of $`L`$,

$$\mathrm{\Delta }=\mathrm{Analytic}\mathrm{Index}(L).$$
(48)
## 5 Intertwining Isospectral Hamiltonians

Consider two isospectral Hamiltonians $`H_1`$ and $`H_2`$ acting in Hilbert spaces $`_1`$ and $`_2`$ respectively. Let $`\{|\psi _n^{(i)},a,|\varphi _n^{(i)},a\}`$ be a complete biorthonormal system associated with $`H_i`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_n^{(i)}:=_{a_i=1}^{d_n^{(i)}}|\psi _n^{(i)},a_i\varphi _n^{(i)},a_i|`$ where $`d_n^{(i)}`$ is the multiplicity of $`E_n`$ as an eigenvalue of $`H_i`$ and $`i\{1,2\}`$. Then according to (1) - (3), we have

$$\underset{n}{}\mathrm{\Lambda }_n^{(i)}=1\mathrm{and}H_i=\underset{n}{}E_n\mathrm{\Lambda }_n^{(i)}.$$
(49)
Next let $`\mu _n`$ denote the smallest of $`d_n^{(1)}`$ and $`d_n^{(2)}`$ and introduce the operators $`L_n:_1_2`$ and $`L(\alpha ):_1_2`$ according to

$$L_n:=\underset{a=1}{\overset{\mu _n}{}}|\psi _n^{(2)},a\varphi _n^{(1)},a|\mathrm{and}L(\alpha ):=\underset{n}{}\alpha _nL_n,$$
(50)
where $`\alpha =\{\alpha _n\}`$ is an arbitrary (finite or infinite) sequence of complex numbers $`\alpha _n`$. Then one can easily show that

$$L_m\mathrm{\Lambda }_n^{(1)}=\delta _{mn}L_n=\mathrm{\Lambda }_m^{(2)}L_n.$$
(51)
Note that here there is no summation over repeated indices. Equations (51) together with (49) yield the intertwining relation:

$$L(\alpha )H_1=H_2L(\alpha ).$$
(52)
This is a demonstration of the fact that any two (diagonalizable) isospectral Hamiltonians are related by a Darboux transformation.

Next, suppose that the eigenvalues of one of the Hamiltonians (and consequently the other’s) are real or come in complex-conjugate pairs and that $`H_1`$ and $`H_2`$ have the same spectral degeneracy structure.666This means that for all $`n`$, $`d_n^{(1)}=d_n^{(2)}`$. Then according to Theorem 1, $`H_1`$ and $`H_2`$ are pseudo-Hermitian with respect to some linear Hermitian invertible operators $`\eta _1`$ and $`\eta _2`$, respectively,

$$H_i^{}=\eta _iH\eta _i^1.$$
(53)
In view of the results of Section 2, namely Equation (8), $`\eta _i`$ have the canonical form

$$\eta _i=\underset{n_0}{}\underset{a=1}{\overset{d_{n_0}}{}}\sigma _a^{(i)n_0}|\varphi _{n_0}^{(i)},a\varphi _{n_0}^{(i)},a|+\underset{\nu }{}\underset{a=1}{\overset{d_\nu }{}}(|\varphi _\nu ^{(i)},a\varphi _\nu ^{(i)},a|+|\varphi _\nu ^{(i)},a\varphi _\nu ^{(i)},a|.),$$
(54)
where $`\{|\psi _n^{(i)},a,|\varphi _n^{(i)},a\}`$ is an appropriate complete biorthonormal eigenbasis of $`H_i`$ and $`\sigma _a^{(i)n_0}\{1,+1\}`$.

Next, make the following choice for the signs $`\sigma _a^{(i)n_0}`$ and the complex numbers $`\alpha _n`$.

$`\sigma _a^{(1)n_0}`$ $`=`$ $`\{\begin{array}{ccc}1& \mathrm{for}& E_{n_0}<0\\ +1& \mathrm{otherwise},& \end{array}`$ (57)
$`\sigma _a^{(2)n_0}`$ $`=`$ $`+1,`$ (58)
$`\alpha _{n_0}`$ $`=`$ $`\sqrt{|E_{n_0}|},\alpha _\nu =E_\nu ,\alpha _\nu =1.`$ (59)
Then, a rather lengthy but straightforward calculation shows that for these choices of $`\eta _i`$ and $`\alpha =\{\alpha _n\}`$, namely (54) – (59), we have

$$H_1=L(\alpha )^{\mathrm{}}L(\alpha )\mathrm{and}H_2=L(\alpha )L(\alpha )^{\mathrm{}}.$$
(60)
Now, consider a slightly more general case where the $`H_1`$ and $`H_2`$ have identical degeneracy structure except possibly for the zero eigenvalue.777Obviously this applies when zero belongs to their common spectrum. In this case, we can easily check that Equations (60) still hold. Therefore, in view of (60) and the results of Section 3, we have established the following.

* Theorem 3: Let $`_i`$, with $`i\{1,2\}`$, be Hilbert spaces, and $`H_i:_i_i`$ be diagonalizable linear operators with discrete spectra and real or complex-conjugate pairs of eigenvalues. Then $`_1`$ and $`_2`$ are isospectral and have identical spectral degeneracy except perhaps for the zero eigenvalue if and only if there is a linear operator $`L:_1_2`$ and linear, Hermitian, invertible operators $`\eta _i:_i_i`$ satisfying

$$H_1=L^{\mathrm{}}L\mathrm{and}H_2=LL^{\mathrm{}},$$
(61)
where $`L^{\mathrm{}}:=\eta _1^1L^{}\eta _2`$.

Setting $`D=\sqrt{2}L`$ and comparing Equations (61) and (23), we see that $`H_1`$ and $`H_2`$ are pseudo-superpartner Hamiltonians. This is the main result of this article. It implies, in particular, that all the attempts in the literature  to generate non-Hermitian Hamiltonians with a real spectrum by intertwining a Hermitian Hamiltonian fit to the framework provided by pseudo-supersymmetry.

The above result also applies to Hermitian Hamiltonians that have real eigenvalues. Specifically, we have the following corollary of Theorem 3.

* Corollary: Every diagonalizable Hamiltonian $`H`$ that acts in a Hilbert space $``$ and has a discrete spectrum and real or complex-conjugate pairs of eigenvalues (in particular every Hermitian Hamiltonian with a discrete spectrum) may be factored as

$$H=L^{\mathrm{}}L$$
(62)
for some linear operator $`L`$ whose pseudo-adjoint $`L^{\mathrm{}}=\eta _1^1L\eta _2`$ is defined in terms of a pair of linear, Hermitian, invertible operators $`\eta _1,\eta _2:`$ with respect to which $`H`$ is pseudo-Hermitian.

## 6 Application: Nondegenerate Two-Level Systems

Two-level systems with Hermitian and non-Hermitian Hamiltonians have been extensively studied for their various applications in modeling the interactions of spin 1/2 particles, the description of resonant states, and in particular in polarization optics and quantum computation. A large part of the literature on non-Hermitian Hamiltonians consist of the study of non-Hermitian two-level Hamiltonians. See for example  and references therein.

A nondegenerate two-level system has $`^2`$ as its Hilbert space and a linear map $`H:^2^2`$ as its Hamiltonian. Clearly in a basis $`\{|1,|2\}`$ of $`^2`$, which is usually assumed to be orthonormal, $`H`$ has the form of a $`2\times 2`$ matrix. It is well-known that one can perform a time-dependent (canonical) phase transformation  that sets the trace of $`H`$ to zero. Therefore, without loss of generality one may suppose that $`H`$ has the form

$$H=\left(\begin{array}{cc}a& b\\ c& a\end{array}\right),$$
(63)
where $`a,b,c`$. The eigenvalues $`E_n`$ and a complete biorthonormal system $`\{|\psi _n,|\varphi _n\}`$ for $`H`$ are given by

$`E_1=E,E_2=E,`$ (64)
$`|\psi _1=\left(\begin{array}{c}b\\ a+E\end{array}\right),|\psi _2=\left(\begin{array}{c}a+E\\ c\end{array}\right),`$ (69)
$`|\varphi _1={\displaystyle \frac{1}{N^{}}}\left(\begin{array}{c}c^{}\\ a^{}+E^{}\end{array}\right),|\varphi _2={\displaystyle \frac{1}{N^{}}}\left(\begin{array}{c}a^{}+E^{}\\ b^{}\end{array}\right),`$ (74)
where $`E:=\sqrt{a^2+bc}`$ has a nonnegative real part, $`N:=2E(a+E)`$, and we assume without loss of generality that $`E0`$, for otherwise either $`H`$ vanishes identically or it is not diagonalizable. Clearly the above choice of $`\{|\psi _n,|\varphi _n\}`$ is valid provided that $`Ea`$. If $`E=a`$, we can always change the value of $`a`$ by performing a unitary transformation of the basis $`\{|1,|2\}`$ in terms of which $`H`$ has the form (63). Because $`E`$ is an eigenvalue of $`H`$, this transformation leaves it invariant. In this way after the transformation, $`H`$ has the same form (63) but the transformed $`a`$ satisfies $`Ea`$. Equivalently, for $`E=a`$ we can select a new set of complete biorthonormal system for $`H`$. In the following, we shall assume that $`Ea`$.

One can easily check that (69) and (74) satisfy the orthonormality and completeness conditions (2) and (3) and that (7) is also satisfied by (63) – (74). Now consider the case that the tow-level Hamiltonian (63) has a real determinant. Then, Equation (64) implies that either both eigenvalues are real or they are complex-conjugates. Therefore, as a consequence of Theorem 1, we have:

* Proposition: Every nondegenerate (traceless) two-level Hamiltonian with real determinant is pseudo-Hermitian.

Next, we construct the matrix representation of the operators $`L_n`$ and $`\eta _i`$ and check that indeed the factorization (62) holds for the two-level Hamiltonian (63) with real determinant. In order to do this we consider the cases of real and complex eigenvalues separately.

* Case I. $`E`$ is real (and positive)
In this case, according to (57) – (59), $`\alpha _1=\alpha _2=\sqrt{E}`$ and $`\sigma ^{(2)}=\sigma ^{(1)}=+1`$. Therefore,

$`L`$ $`=`$ $`L(\alpha _1,\alpha _2)=\sqrt{E}(|\psi _1\varphi _1|+|\psi _2\varphi _2|)=\sqrt{E}1,`$ (75)
$`\eta _1`$ $`=`$ $`|\varphi _1\varphi _1|+|\varphi _2\varphi _2|,`$ (76)
$`\eta _2`$ $`=`$ $`|\varphi _1\varphi _1|+|\varphi _2\varphi _2|,`$ (77)
These in turn imply $`\eta _1^1=|\psi _1\psi _1|+|\psi _2\psi _2|`$ and

$$L^{\mathrm{}}L=\sqrt{E}L^{\mathrm{}}=E\eta _1^1\eta _2=E(|\psi _1\varphi _1|+|\psi _2\varphi _2|)=H.$$
(78)
* Case II. $`E`$ is not real
In this case, there is no real eigenvalues and we set $`\alpha _1=1`$, $`\alpha _2=E`$ and find

$`L`$ $`=`$ $`L(\alpha _1,\alpha _2)=|\psi _1\varphi _1|+E|\psi _2\varphi _2|,`$ (79)
$`\eta _1`$ $`=`$ $`\eta _2=|\varphi _1\varphi _2|+|\varphi _2\varphi _1|,`$ (80)
$`\eta _1^1`$ $`=`$ $`|\psi _1\psi _2|+|\psi _2\psi _1|,`$ (81)
$`L^{\mathrm{}}`$ $`=`$ $`\eta _1^1L\eta ^2=E|\psi _1\varphi _1|+|\psi _2\varphi _2|,`$ (82)
$`L^{\mathrm{}}L`$ $`=`$ $`E|\psi _1\varphi _1|+E|\psi _2\varphi _2|=H.`$ (83)

Equations (78) and (83) confirm the validity of our results for arbitrary two-level Hamiltonians.

The matrix forms of the operators $`\eta _1`$, $`\eta _2`$, $`L`$ and $`L^{\mathrm{}}`$ can be easily obtained by substituting (69) and (74) in (75) – (82) in each case. As an illustrative example, we consider the two-level system associated with the two-component form of the classical equation of motion for a simple harmonic oscillator, namely $`\ddot{x}(t)+\omega ^2(t)x(t)=0`$ where $`\omega =\omega (t)`$ is the frequency and a dot means a time-derivative. As discussed in , this equation may be written in the form of the Schrödinger equation $`i\dot{\mathrm{\Psi }}(t)=H(t)\mathrm{\Psi }(t)`$ for

$$\mathrm{\Psi }(t)=\left(\begin{array}{c}x(t)\\ \dot{x}(t)\end{array}\right),H_\mathrm{o}(t)=\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& i\\ i\omega (t)^2& 0\end{array}\right).$$
(84)
Comparing (84) with (63), we see that for the oscillator $`a=0`$, $`b=i`$, $`c=i\omega ^2`$, $`E=\omega `$, and $`N=2\omega ^2`$. As $`\omega `$ is real, (84) is an example of Case 1. For this system, we have

$`|\psi _1`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{c}i\\ \omega \end{array}\right),|\psi _2=\left(\begin{array}{c}\omega \\ i\omega ^2\end{array}\right),`$ (89)
$`|\varphi _1`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(\begin{array}{c}i\\ \omega ^1\end{array}\right),|\varphi _2={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(\begin{array}{c}\omega ^1\\ i\omega ^2\end{array}\right),`$ (94)
$`\eta _1`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\omega ^2}}\left(\begin{array}{cc}\omega ^2(1\omega ^2)& i\omega (1+\omega ^2)\\ i\omega (1+\omega ^2)& 1\omega ^2\end{array}\right),`$ (97)
$`\eta _1^1`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\omega ^2}}\left(\begin{array}{cc}1+\omega ^2& i\omega (1+\omega ^2)\\ i\omega (1+\omega ^2)& \omega ^2(1+\omega ^2)\end{array}\right),`$ (100)
$`\eta _2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\omega ^2}}\left(\begin{array}{cc}\omega ^2(1+\omega ^2)& i\omega (1\omega ^2)\\ i\omega (1\omega ^2)& 1+\omega ^2\end{array}\right),`$ (103)
$`L`$ $`=`$ $`\sqrt{\omega }\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 0\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right),L^{\mathrm{}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{\omega }}}\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& i\\ i\omega (t)^2& 0\end{array}\right).`$ (108)
Clearly $`L^{\mathrm{}}L=LL^{\mathrm{}}=H_\mathrm{o}`$.

As a second check of our general results, we shall next show that the (non-Hermitian) oscillator Hamiltonian (84) can be obtained by intertwining the (Hermitian) spin Hamiltonian:

$$H_\mathrm{s}=\omega (t)\sigma _3=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\omega (t)& 0\\ 0& \omega (t)\end{array}\right).$$
(109)
This is interesting as there are well-known similarities between the quantum mechanical Hamiltonian for the simple harmonic oscillator and the spin Hamiltonian, e.g., for both systems the quantum dynamics is determined by the classical dynamics, . As we shall see pseudo-supersymmetry reveals a direct relationship between the two-level system associated with the classical simple harmonic oscillator and the (quantum) spin-half system described by the Hamiltonian (109).

Letting $`H_1=H_\mathrm{o}`$ and $`H_2=H_\mathrm{s}`$ and using the notation of the preceding sections and Equations (64) – (74), we see that $`|\psi _{n_0}^{(1)}`$, $`|\varphi _{n_0}^{(1)}`$, $`\eta _1`$, and $`\eta _1^1`$ are respectively given by (89), (94), (97), and (100). In view of the diagonal form of (109), we may choose

$$|\psi _1^{(2)}=|\varphi _1^{(2)}=\left(\begin{array}{c}0\\ 1\end{array}\right),|\psi _2^{(2)}=|\varphi _2^{(2)}=\left(\begin{array}{c}1\\ 0\end{array}\right),$$
(110)
in which case $`\eta _2=\eta _2^1`$ is just the identity matrix. Having chosen the complete biorthonormal systems $`\{|\psi _{n_0}^{(i)},|\varphi _{n_0}^{(i)}\}`$ and obtained $`\eta _i`$ and $`\eta _i^1`$, we next compute

$`L`$ $`=`$ $`L(\alpha _1=\sqrt{E},\alpha _2=\sqrt{E})=\sqrt{\omega }\left(|\psi _1^{(2)}\varphi _1^{(1)}|+|\psi _2^{(2)}\varphi _2^{(1)}|\right)`$ (113)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{\omega }}{2}}\left(\begin{array}{cc}\omega ^1& i\omega ^2\\ i& \omega ^1\end{array}\right),`$
$`L^{\mathrm{}}`$ $`=`$ $`\eta _1^1L^{}\eta _2=\sqrt{\omega }\left(\begin{array}{cc}\omega & i\\ i\omega ^2& \omega \end{array}\right),`$ (116)
$`L^{\mathrm{}}L`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& i\\ i\omega (t)^2& 0\end{array}\right)=H_\mathrm{o}=H_1,`$ (119)
$`LL^{\mathrm{}}`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\begin{array}{cc}\omega (t)& 0\\ 0& \omega (t)\end{array}\right)=H_\mathrm{s}=H_2.`$ (122)
The last two relations establish the fact that indeed $`H_\mathrm{o}`$ and $`H_\mathrm{s}`$ are pseudo-superpartner Hamiltonians.

## 7 Conclusion

In this article we derived some of the basic properties of pseudo-supersymmetric quantum mechanics and explored its consequences. Under the assumption of the diagonalizability of the Hamiltonians and discreteness of their spectra, we showed that indeed every pair of isospectral pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonians with identical degeneracy structure, except possibly for the zero eigenvalue, define a pseudo-supersymmetric system. As pseudo-Hermiticity and the presence of antilinear symmetries are equivalent conditions, our results apply to the Hamiltonians possessing antilinear symmetries, the typical example being the $`PT`$-symmetric Hamiltonians. In fact, all the attempts made in the literature to use Darboux’s intertwining method in constructing non-Hermitian Hamiltonians with a real spectrum may be viewed as manifestations of pseudo-supersymmetry. Another area where pseudo-supersymmetry is readily applied is in the study of nondegenerate two-level Hamiltonians. Because all the diagonalizable traceless matrix Hamiltonians with real determinant are pseudo-Hermitian, these provide a class of quantum systems to which our results apply generally. In particular, we checked the $`H=L^{\mathrm{}}L`$ factorization of all such Hamiltonians by explicit calculations and showed how the two-level Hamiltonians describing the classical dynamics of a simple harmonic oscillator and a spin-half particle in a magnetic field are linked via a pseudo-supersymmetry transformation.

In conclusion, we wish to point out that as far as the general results of this article are concerned, lifting the discreteness condition that we imposed on the spectrum of the Hamiltonian seems not to lead to any major difficulties. In view of the analogy with supersymmetry, we expect the presence of a continuous spectrum not to diminish the utility of pseudo-supersymmetry. The similarity between the algebraic structure of supersymmetry and pseudo-supersymmetry suggests various generalizations of the latter. For example, one may examine para-, ortho-, and fractional pseudo-supersymmetry whose algebras are respectively obtained by replacing the adjoint of the operators by their pseudo-adjoint in the algebras of parasupersymmetry, orthosupersymmetry, and fractional supersymmetry, . More generally, it would be interesting to generalize the concept of a topological symmetry  to quantum systems with a pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonian.

## Acknowledgment

This project was supported by the Young Researcher Award Program (GEBIP) of the Turkish Academy of Sciences.


text:
# References

IFT-02/08

Clifford algebra implying three fermion generations revisited***Work supported in part by the Polish State Committee for Scientific Research (KBN), grant 5 P03B 119 20 (2001–2002).

Wojciech Królikowski

Institute of Theoretical Physics, Warsaw University

Hoża 69, PL–00–681 Warszawa, Poland

Abstract

The author’s idea of algebraic compositeness of fundamental particles, allowing to understand the existence in Nature of three fermion generations, is revisited. It is based on two postulates. (i) For all fundamental particles of matter the Dirac square-root procedure $`\sqrt{p^2}\mathrm{\Gamma }^{(N)}p`$ works, leading to a sequence $`N=1,2,3,\mathrm{}`$ of Dirac-type equations, where four Dirac-type matrices $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mu ^{(N)}`$ are embedded into a Clifford algebra via a Jacobi definition introducing four ”centre-of-mass” and $`(N1)\times `$four ”relative” Dirac-type matrices. These define one ”centre-of-mass” and $`N1`$ ”relative” Dirac bispinor indices. (ii) The ”centre-of-mass” Dirac bispinor index is coupled to the Standard Model gauge fields, while $`N1`$ ”relative” Dirac bispinor indices are all free undistinguishable physical objects obeying Fermi statistics with the Pauli principle which requires the full antisymmetry with respect to ”relative” indices. This allows only for three $`N=1,3,5`$ in the case of $`N`$ odd, implying the existence of three and only three generations of fundamental fermions.

PACS numbers: 12.50.Ch , 12.90+b , 12.10.Dm

March 2002

One of the most important theoretical achievements in the history of physics was Dirac’s algebraic discovery of the particle’s spin 1/2, inherently connected with the linearization of relativistic wave equation through his fameous square-root procedure $`\sqrt{p^2}\gamma p`$ . As a result, some physical particles, called later on spin-1/2 fermions, got — in addition to their spatial coordinates $`\stackrel{}{r}`$ — new algebraic degrees of freedom, described with the use of Dirac bispinor index $`\alpha =1,2,3,4`$. This was acted on by the $`4\times 4`$ Dirac matrices, in particular, by the spin-1/2 matrix $`\frac{1}{2}\stackrel{}{\sigma }`$ which supplemented the orbital angular momentum operator $`\stackrel{}{r}\times \stackrel{}{p}`$ to the operator of particle’s total angular momentum. Thus, through an act of abstraction from the particle’s spatial properties, its spin 1/2 was recognized as an algebraic analogue of its spatial, orbital angular momentum, satisfying the same rotation-group commutation relations.

The starting point of the author’s idea of algebraic compositeness  was a proposal of a new act of abstraction from the particle’s spatial properties, where a wave function $`\psi _{\alpha _1\alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N}^{(N)}(\stackrel{}{r})`$ of several Dirac bispinor indices $`\alpha _1,\alpha _2,\mathrm{},\alpha _N`$ (as representing $`N`$ physical objects correlated with one material point of spatial coordinates $`\stackrel{}{r}`$) was introduced in an analogy with the wave function $`\psi ^{(N)}(\stackrel{}{r}_1,\stackrel{}{r}_2,\mathrm{},\stackrel{}{r}_N)`$ of several spatial coordinates $`\stackrel{}{r}_1,\stackrel{}{r}_2,\mathrm{},\stackrel{}{r}_N`$ (as representing $`N`$ physical objects being, this time, material points).

In order to construct these several Dirac bispinor indices the observation was made  that, generically, the Dirac algebra

$$\{\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mu ^{(N)},\mathrm{\Gamma }_\nu ^{(N)}\}=2g_{\mu \nu }$$
(1)
can be realized through Dirac-type matrices of the form

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mu ^{(N)}\frac{1}{\sqrt{N}}\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}\gamma _{i\mu }^{(N)}$$
(2)
built up linearly from $`N`$ elements of the Clifford algebra

$$\{\gamma _{i\mu }^{(N)},\gamma _{j\nu }^{(N)}\}=2\delta _{ij}g_{\mu \nu },$$
(3)
where $`N=1,2,3,\mathrm{},i,j=1,2,\mathrm{},N`$ and $`\mu ,\nu =0,1,2,3`$. Then, the Dirac square-root procedure $`\sqrt{p^2}\mathrm{\Gamma }^{(N)}p`$ leads in the interaction-free case to the sequence $`N=1,2,3,\mathrm{}`$ of Dirac-type equations

$$\left(\mathrm{\Gamma }^{(N)}pM^{(N)}\right)\psi ^{(N)}(x)=0$$
(4)
with $`\psi ^{(N)}(x)\left(\psi _{\alpha _1\alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N}^{(N)}(x)\right)`$, where the meaning of Dirac bispinor indices is explained as in Eq. (12) later on. Here, each $`\alpha _i=1,2,3,4(i=1,2,\mathrm{},N)`$. The mass $`M^{(N)}`$ is independent of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mu ^{(N)}`$. In general, the mass $`M^{(N)}`$ should be replaced by a mass matrix of elements $`M^{(N,N^{})}`$ which would couple $`\psi ^{(N)}(x)`$ with all appropriate $`\psi ^{(N^{})}(x)`$, and it might be natural to assume for $`NN^{}`$ that $`\gamma _{i\mu }^{(N)}`$ and $`\gamma _{j\nu }^{(N^{})}`$ commute, and so do $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mu ^{(N)}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\nu ^{(N^{})}`$.

For $`N=1`$, Eq. (4) is evidently the usual Dirac equation and for $`N=2`$ it is known as the Dirac form  of Kähler equation , while for $`N3`$ Eqs. (4) give us new Dirac-type equations . They describe some spin-halfinteger or spin-integer particles for $`N`$ odd or $`N`$ even, respectively.

The Dirac-type matrices $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mu ^{(N)}`$ for any $`N`$ can be embedded into the new Clifford algebra

$$\{\mathrm{\Gamma }_{i\mu }^{(N)},\mathrm{\Gamma }_{j\nu }^{(N)}\}=2\delta _{ij}g_{\mu \nu },$$
(5)
isomorphic with the Clifford algebra (3) of $`\gamma _{i\mu }^{(N)}`$, if $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{i\mu }^{(N)}`$ are defined by the properly normalized Jacobi linear combinations of $`\gamma _{i\mu }^{(N)}`$:

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1\mu }^{(N)}`$ $``$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mu ^{(N)}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{N}}}\left(\gamma _{1\mu }^{(N)}+\mathrm{}+\gamma _{N\mu }^{(N)}\right),`$
$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{i\mu }^{(N)}`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{i(i1)}}}\left[\gamma _{1\mu }^{(N)}+\mathrm{}+\gamma _{i1\mu }^{(N)}(i1)\gamma _{i\mu }^{(N)}\right]`$ (6)
for $`i=1`$ and $`i=2,\mathrm{},N`$, respectively. So, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1\mu }^{(N)}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{2\mu }^{(N)},\mathrm{},\mathrm{\Gamma }_{N\mu }^{(N)}`$, respectively, present the ”centre-of-mass” and ”relative” Dirac-type matrices. Note that the Dirac-type equation (4) for any $`N`$ does not involve the ”relative” Dirac-type matrices $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{2\mu }^{(N)},\mathrm{},\mathrm{\Gamma }_{N\mu }^{(N)}`$, including solely the ”centre-of-mass” Dirac-type matrix $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1\mu }^{(N)}\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mu ^{(N)}`$. Since $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{i\mu }^{(N)}=_{j=1}^NO_{ij}\gamma _{j\mu }^{(N)}`$, where $`O=\left(O_{ij}\right)`$ is an orthogonal $`N\times N`$ matrix ($`O^T=O^1`$), we obtain for the total spin tensor the equality

$$\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}\sigma _{i\mu \nu }^{(N)}=\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}\mathrm{\Sigma }_{i\mu \nu }^{(N)},$$
(7)
where

$$\sigma _{j\mu \nu }^{(N)}\frac{i}{2}[\gamma _{j\mu }^{(N)},\gamma _{j\nu }^{(N)}],\mathrm{\Sigma }_{j\mu \nu }^{(N)}\frac{i}{2}[\mathrm{\Gamma }_{j\mu }^{(N)},\mathrm{\Gamma }_{j\nu }^{(N)}].$$
(8)
The total spin tensor (7) is the generator of Lorentz transformations for $`\psi ^{(N)}(x)`$.

In place of the chiral representations for individual $`\gamma _j^{(N)}=\left(\gamma _{j\mu }^{(N)}\right)`$, where

$$\gamma _{j5}^{(N)}i\gamma _{j0}^{(N)}\gamma _{j1}^{(N)}\gamma _{j2}^{(N)}\gamma _{j3}^{(N)},\sigma _{j3}^{(N)}\sigma _{j12}^{(N)}$$
(9)
are diagonal, it is convenient to use for any $`N`$ the chiral representations of Jacobi $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_j^{(N)}=\left(\mathrm{\Gamma }_{j\mu }^{(N)}\right)`$, where now

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{j5}^{(N)}i\mathrm{\Gamma }_{j0}^{(N)}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{j1}^{(N)}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{j2}^{(N)}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{j3}^{(N)},\mathrm{\Sigma }_{j3}^{(N)}\mathrm{\Sigma }_{j12}^{(N)}$$
(10)
are diagonal (all matrices (9) and similarly (10) commute simultaneously, both with equal and different $`j`$).

When using the Jacobi chiral representations, the ”centre-of-mass” Dirac-type matrices $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1\mu }^{(N)}\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mu ^{(N)}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{15}^{(N)}\mathrm{\Gamma }_5^{(N)}i\mathrm{\Gamma }_0^{(N)}\mathrm{\Gamma }_1^{(N)}\mathrm{\Gamma }_2^{(N)}\mathrm{\Gamma }_3^{(N)}`$ can be taken in the reduced forms

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mu ^{(N)}=\gamma _\mu \underset{N1\mathrm{times}}{\underset{}{\mathrm{𝟏}\mathrm{}\mathrm{𝟏}}},\mathrm{\Gamma }_5^{(N)}=\gamma _5\underset{N1\mathrm{times}}{\underset{}{\mathrm{𝟏}\mathrm{}\mathrm{𝟏}}},$$
(11)
where $`\gamma _\mu `$, $`\gamma _5i\gamma _0\gamma _1\gamma _2\gamma _3`$ and 1 are the usual $`4\times 4`$ Dirac matrices.

Then, the Dirac-type equation (4) for any $`N`$ can be rewritten in the reduced form

$$\left(\gamma pM^{(N)}\right)_{\alpha _1\beta _1}\psi _{\beta _1\alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N}^{(N)}(x)=0,$$
(12)
where $`\alpha _1`$ and $`\alpha _2,\mathrm{},\alpha _N`$ are the ”centre-of-mass” and ”relative” Dirac bispinor indices, respectively ($`\alpha _i=1,2,3,4`$ for any $`i=1,2,\mathrm{},N`$). Note that in the Dirac-type equation (12) for any $`N>1`$ there appear the ”relative” Dirac indices $`\alpha _2,\mathrm{},\alpha _N`$ which are free from any coupling, but still are subjects of Lorentz transformations.

The Standard Model gauge interactions can be introduced to the Dirac-type equations (12) by means of the minimal substitution $`ppgA(x)`$, where $`p`$ plays the role of the ”centre-of-mass” four-momentum, and so, $`x`$ — the ”centre-of-mass” four-position. Then,

$$\left\{\gamma \left[pgA(x)\right]M^{(N)}\right\}_{\alpha _1\beta _1}\psi _{\beta _1\alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N}^{(N)}(x)=0,$$
(13)
where $`g\gamma A(x)`$ symbolizes the Standard Model gauge coupling that involves within $`A(x)`$ the familiar weak-isospin and color matrices, the weak-hypercharge dependence as well as the usual Dirac chiral matrix $`\gamma _5`$. The last arises from the ”centre-of-mass” Dirac-type chiral matrix $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_5^{(N)}`$, when a generic $`g\mathrm{\Gamma }^{(N)}A(x)`$ is reduced to $`g\gamma A(x)`$ in Eqs. (13) \[see Eq. (11)\]. Note that then $`A_\mu (x)A_\mu (x,\gamma _5)A_\mu (x,0)+A_\mu ^{}(x,0)\gamma _5`$ depends linearly on $`\gamma _5`$.

In Eqs. (13) the Standard Model gauge fields interact only with the ”centre-of-mass” index $`\alpha _1`$ that, therefore, is distinguished from the physically unobserved ”relative” indices $`\alpha _2,\mathrm{},\alpha _N`$. This was the reason, why some time ago we conjectured that the ”relative” Dirac bispinor indices $`\alpha _2,\mathrm{},\alpha _N`$ are all undistinguishable physical objects obeying Fermi statistics along with the Pauli principle requiring the full antisymmetry of wave function $`\psi _{\alpha _1\alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N}^{(N)}(x)`$ with respect to $`\alpha _2,\mathrm{},\alpha _N`$ . Hence, due to this ”intrinsic Pauli principle”, only five values of $`N`$ satisfying the condition $`N14`$ are allowed, namely $`N=1,3,5`$ for $`N`$ odd and $`N=2,4`$ for $`N`$ even. Then, from the postulate of relativity and the probabilistic interpretation of $`\psi ^{(N)}(x)\left(\psi _{\alpha _1\alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N}^{(N)}(x)\right)`$ we were able to infer that these $`N`$ odd and $`N`$ even correspond to states with total spin 1/2 and total spin 0, respectively .

Thus, the Dirac-type equation (13), jointly with the ”intrinsic Pauli principle”, if considered on a fundamental level, justifies the existence in Nature of three and only three generations of spin-1/2 fundamental fermions coupled to the Standard Model gauge bosons (they are identified with leptons and quarks). In addition, there should exist two and only two generations of spin-0 fundamental bosons also coupled to the Standard Model gauge bosons (they are not identified yet). Note that one cannot hope here for a construction of the full supersymmetry. At most, there might appear a partial supersymmetry: two to two, broken by the absence of one boson generation (the question is of which).

The wave functions or fields of spin-1/2 fundamental fermions (leptons and quarks) of three generations $`N=1,3,5`$ can be presented in terms of $`\psi _{\alpha _1\alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N}^{(N)}(x)`$ as follows:

$`\psi _{\alpha _1}^{(f_1)}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`\psi _{\alpha _1}^{(1)}(x),`$
$`\psi _{\alpha _1}^{(f_3)}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\left(C^1\gamma _5\right)_{\alpha _2\alpha _3}\psi _{\alpha _1\alpha _2\alpha _3}^{(3)}(x)=\psi _{\alpha _112}^{(3)}(x)=\psi _{\alpha _134}^{(3)}(x),`$
$`\psi _{\alpha _1}^{(f_5)}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{24}}\epsilon _{\alpha _2\alpha _3\alpha _4\alpha _5}\psi _{\alpha _1\alpha _2\alpha _3\alpha _4\alpha _5}^{(5)}(x)=\psi _{\alpha _11234}^{(5)}(x),`$ (14)
where $`\psi _{\alpha _1\alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N}^{(N)}(x)`$ carries also the Standard Model (composite) label, suppressed in our notation, and $`C`$ denotes the usual $`4\times 4`$ charge-conjugation matrix. Here, writing explicitly, $`f_1=\nu _e,e^{},u,d,f_3=\nu _\mu ,\mu ^{},c,s`$ and $`f_5=\nu _\tau ,\tau ^{},t,b`$, thus each $`f_N`$ corresponds to the same suppressed Standard Model (composite) label. We can see that, due to the full antisymmetry in $`\alpha _i`$ indices for $`i2`$, the wave functions or fields $`N=1,3`$ and 5 appear (up to the sign) with the multiplicities 1, 4 and 24, respectively. Thus, for them, there is defined the weighting matrix

$$\rho ^{1/2}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{29}}\left(\begin{array}{ccc}1& 0& 0\\ 0& \sqrt{4}& 0\\ 0& 0& \sqrt{24}\end{array}\right),$$
(15)
where Tr $`\rho =1`$.

For each bispinor wave function or field $`\psi _{\alpha _1}^{(f_N)}(x)(N=1,3,5)`$ defined in Eqs. (14), the Dirac-type equation (13) can be reduced to the usual Dirac equation

$$\left\{\gamma \left[pgA(x)\right]M^{(N)}\right\}_{\alpha _1\beta _1}\psi _{\beta _1}^{(f_N)}(x)=0.$$
(16)
This gives in turn the relativistic covariant conserved current of the usual Dirac form

$$j_{\mu \mathrm{D}}^{(f_N)}(x)\psi _{\alpha _1}^{(f_N)}(x)\left(\gamma _0\gamma _\mu \right)_{\alpha _1\beta _1}\psi _{\beta _1}^{(f_N)}(x).$$
(17)
In fact, $`^\mu j_{\mu \mathrm{D}}^{(f_N)}(x)=0`$ since $`A_\mu ^{}(x)=A_\mu (x)`$ where $`\gamma _5^{}=\gamma _5`$.

Concluding the first part of this note, we would like to point out that our algebraic construction of three and only three generations of leptons and quarks may be interpreted either as ingenuously algebraic (much like the famous Dirac’s algebraic discovery of spin 1/2), or as a summit of an iceberg of really composite states of $`N`$ spatial partons with spin 1/2 whose Dirac bispinor indices manifest themselves as our Dirac bispinor indices $`\alpha _1,\alpha _2,\mathrm{},\alpha _N`$ ($`N=1,3,5`$) which thus may be called ”algebraic partons”, as being algebraic building blocks for leptons and quarks. Among all $`N`$ ”algebraic partons” in any generation $`N`$ of leptons and quarks, there are one ”centre-of-mass algebraic parton” $`(\alpha _1)`$ and $`N1`$ ”relative algebraic partons” $`(\alpha _2,\mathrm{},\alpha _N)`$, the latter undistinguishable from each other and so, obeying our ”intrinsic Pauli principle”.

Now, we pass to some more formal discussion. It is not difficult to see that both for $`N`$ odd and $`N`$ even the Dirac-type equation (13) implies the local conservation of the following relativistic covariant structure:

$$j_{\mu \alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N,\beta _2\mathrm{}\beta _N}^{(N)}(x)\psi _{\alpha _1\alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N}^{(N)}(x)\left(\gamma _0\gamma _\mu \right)_{\alpha _1\beta _1}\psi _{\beta _1\beta _2\mathrm{}\beta _N}^{(N)}(x).$$
(18)
In fact, $`^\mu j_{\mu \alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N,\beta _2\mathrm{}\beta _N}(x)=0`$ because $`A_\mu ^{}(x)=A_\mu (x)`$. The local conservation of the currents (17) for $`N=1,3,5`$ follows immediately from Eq. (18), since

$`j_{\mu \mathrm{D}}^{(f_1)}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`j_\mu ^{(1)}(x),`$
$`j_{\mu \mathrm{D}}^{(f_3)}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\left(C^1\gamma _5\right)_{\alpha _2\alpha _3}^{}j_{\mu \alpha _2\alpha _3,\beta _2\beta _3}^{(3)}(x){\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\left(C^1\gamma _5\right)_{\beta _2\beta _3},`$
$`j_{\mu \mathrm{D}}^{(f_5)}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{24}}\epsilon _{\alpha _2\alpha _3\alpha _4\alpha _5}j_{\mu \alpha _2\alpha _3\alpha _4\alpha _5,\beta _2\beta _3\beta _4\beta _5}^{(5)}(x){\displaystyle \frac{1}{24}}\epsilon _{\beta _2\beta _3\beta _4\beta _5}.`$ (19)
In general, the relativistic covariant Dirac-type currents both for $`N`$ odd and $`N`$ even must have the form

$$j_{\mu \mathrm{D}}^{(N)}(x)\psi _{\alpha _1\alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N}^{(N)}(x)\xi ^{(N)}\left(\mathrm{\Gamma }_{10}^{(N)}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{20}^{(N)}\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{N0}^{(N)}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1\mu }^{(N)}\right)_{\alpha _1\alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N,\beta _1\beta _2\mathrm{}\beta _N}\psi _{\beta _1\beta _2\mathrm{}\beta _N}^{(N)}(x),$$
(20)
where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{i\mu }^{(N)}`$ are the Dirac-type matrices in their Jacobi version, introduced in Eqs. (6), while $`\xi ^{(N)}`$ is a phase factor making Hermitian the $`N\times N`$ bispinor matrix appearing in this current. For $`N`$ even this definition is trivial, as then the Dirac-type current vanishes. In the case of $`N`$ odd, we are going to show that

$$j_{\mu \mathrm{D}}^{(N)}(x)=j_{\mu \alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N,\beta _2\mathrm{}\beta _N}^{(N)}(x)(\gamma _0)_{\alpha _2\beta _2}\mathrm{}(\gamma _0)_{\alpha _N\beta _N}.$$
(21)
Thus, $`^\mu j_{\mu \mathrm{D}}^{(N)}(x)=0`$ for $`N`$ odd.

To prove Eq. (21), we observe that the Dirac-type matrices $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{i\mu }^{(N)}(i=1,2,\mathrm{},N)`$, satisfying the anticommutation relations of Clifford algebra (5), can be represented in terms of the usual $`4\times 4`$ Dirac matrices as follows:

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1\mu }^{(N)}`$ $`=`$ $`\gamma _\mu \underset{N1\mathrm{times}}{\underset{}{\mathrm{𝟏}\mathbf{\hspace{0.17em}1}\mathbf{\hspace{0.17em}1}\mathrm{}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathrm{𝟏}}},`$
$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{2\mu }^{(N)}`$ $`=`$ $`\gamma _5i\gamma _\mu \gamma _5\mathrm{𝟏}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathrm{}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathrm{𝟏},`$
$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{3\mu }^{(N)}`$ $`=`$ $`\gamma _5\gamma _5\gamma _\mu \mathrm{𝟏}\mathrm{}\mathrm{𝟏}\mathrm{𝟏},`$
$`...`$ $`..`$ $`.................`$
$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{N\mu }^{(N)}`$ $`=`$ $`\underset{N1\mathrm{times}}{\underset{}{\gamma _5\gamma _5\gamma _5\gamma _5\mathrm{}\gamma _5}}\{\begin{array}{cc}\gamma _\mu \hfill & \mathrm{for}N\mathrm{odd}\hfill \\ i\gamma _\mu \gamma _5\hfill & \mathrm{for}N\mathrm{even}\hfill \end{array},`$ (24)
what is an extension of the representation (11) for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1\mu }^{(N)}\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mu ^{(N)}`$ leading to the form (13) of Dirac-type equation for any $`N`$. Forming their product for $`\mu =0`$,

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{10}^{(N)}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{20}^{(N)}\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{N0}^{(N)}=\{\begin{array}{cc}i^{\frac{N1}{2}}\gamma _0\gamma _0\mathrm{}\gamma _0& \mathrm{for}N\mathrm{odd}\hfill \\ (i)^{\frac{N}{2}}i\gamma _0\gamma _5i\gamma _0\gamma _5\mathrm{}i\gamma _0\gamma _5& \mathrm{for}N\mathrm{even}\hfill \end{array},$$
(25)
and multiplying from the right by $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1\mu }^{(N)}`$, we obtain

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{10}^{(N)}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{20}^{(N)}\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{N0}^{(N)}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1\mu }^{(N)}=\{\begin{array}{cc}i^{\frac{N1}{2}}\gamma _0\gamma _\mu \gamma _0\mathrm{}\gamma _0& \mathrm{for}N\mathrm{odd}\hfill \\ (i)^{\frac{N2}{2}}\gamma _0\gamma _5\gamma _\mu i\gamma _0\gamma _5\mathrm{}i\gamma _0\gamma _5& \mathrm{for}N\mathrm{even}\hfill \end{array}.$$
(26)
Hence, we can define the phase factors in Eq. (20) as follows:

$$\xi ^{(N)}=\{\begin{array}{cc}(i)^{\frac{N1}{2}}\hfill & \mathrm{for}N\mathrm{odd}\hfill \\ (i)^{\frac{N2}{2}}\hfill & \mathrm{for}N\mathrm{even}\hfill \end{array}.$$
(27)
Thus, in the case od $`N`$ odd we can represent the Dirac-type current (20) in the form

$$j_{\mu \mathrm{D}}^{(N)}(x)=\psi _{\alpha _1\alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N}^{(N)}(x)(\gamma _0\gamma _\mu )_{\alpha _1\beta _1}(\gamma _0)_{\alpha _2\beta _2}\mathrm{}(\gamma _0)_{\alpha _N\beta _N}\psi _{\beta _1\beta _2\mathrm{}\beta _N}^{(N)}(x).$$
(28)
From Eqs. (18) and (26) the relationship (21) follows.

For $`N`$ odd, the Dirac-type current (20) or (26) is locally conserved, but such is also the relativistic noncovariant structure $`j_{\mu \alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N,\alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N}^{(N)}(x)`$ calculated from the definition (18) by summing over $`\alpha _2=\beta _2,\mathrm{},\alpha _N=\beta _N`$. It follows that the Hermitian, not explicitly covariant $`N\times N`$ bispinor matrix

$$\xi ^{(N)}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{20}^{(N)}\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{N0}^{(N)}=\mathrm{𝟏}\underset{N1\mathrm{times}}{\underset{}{\gamma _0\gamma _0\mathrm{}\gamma _0}}=\left(\delta _{\alpha _1\beta _1}(\gamma _0)_{\alpha _2\beta _2}\mathrm{}(\gamma _0)_{\alpha _N\beta _N}\right)$$
(29)
is a constant of motion. This matrix may be called the total ”relative” internal parity. Imposing on $`\psi ^{(N)}(x)\left(\psi _{\alpha _1\alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N}^{(N)}(x)\right)`$ the stationary constraint in the form of the eigenvalue equation

$$\xi ^{(N)}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{20}^{(N)}\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{N0}^{(N)}\psi ^{(N)}(x)=\psi ^{(N)}(x),$$
(30)
requiring that the eigenvalue of total ”relative” internal parity must be always equal to +1, we simplify the relativistic covariant Dirac-type current (20) or (26) to the form

$`j_{\mu \mathrm{D}}^{(N)}`$ $`=`$ $`\psi _{\alpha _1\alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N}^{(N)}(x)\left(\mathrm{\Gamma }_{10}^{(N)}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1\mu }^{(N)}\right)_{\alpha _1\alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N,\beta _1\beta _2\mathrm{}\beta _N}\psi _{\beta _1\beta _2\mathrm{}\beta _N}^{(N)}(x)`$ (31)
$`=`$ $`\psi _{\alpha _1\alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N}^{(N)}(x)\left(\gamma _0\gamma _\mu \right)_{\alpha _1\beta _1}\psi _{\beta _1\alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N}^{(N)}(x)`$
that is not explicitly covariant in the world of ”relative” Dirac degrees of freedom. The form (29) leads to the positive-definiteness of $`\psi ^{(N)}(x)`$,

$$j_{0\mathrm{D}}^{(N)}(x)=\psi _{\alpha _1\alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N}^{(N)}(x)\psi _{\alpha _1\alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N}^{(N)}(x)>0,$$
(32)
which is a natural requirement for $`\psi ^{(N)}(x)`$.

It is not difficult to demonstrate that wave functions or fields of spin-1/2 fundamental fermions, $`\psi _{\alpha _1}^{(f_N)}(x)(N=1,3,5)`$ defined in Eqs. (14), satisfy the constraint (28). In fact, writing

$$\psi _{\alpha _1\alpha _2\alpha _3}^{(3)}(x)=(\gamma _5C)_{\alpha _3\alpha _2}\psi _{\alpha _1}^{(f_3)}(x),\psi _{\alpha _1\alpha _2\alpha _3\alpha _4\alpha _5}^{(5)}(x)=\epsilon _{\alpha _2\alpha _3\alpha _4\alpha _5}\psi _{\alpha _1}^{(f_5)}(x),$$
(33)
we check that

$$\delta _{\alpha _1\beta _1}(\gamma _0)_{\alpha _2\beta _2}(\gamma _0)_{\alpha _3\beta _3}\psi _{\beta _1\beta _2\beta _3}^{(3)}(x)=\psi _{\alpha _1\alpha _2\alpha _3}^{(3)}(x)$$
(34)
and

$$\delta _{\alpha _1\beta _1}(\gamma _0)_{\alpha _2\beta _2}(\gamma _0)_{\alpha _3\beta _3}(\gamma _0)_{\alpha _4\beta _4}(\gamma _0)_{\alpha _5\beta _5}\psi _{\beta _1\beta _2\beta _3\beta _4\beta _5}^{(5)}(x)=\psi _{\alpha _1\alpha _2\alpha _3\alpha _4\alpha _5}^{(5)}(x),$$
(35)
where in the chiral representation

$$\gamma _5=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}\hfill 1& \hfill 0& \hfill 0& \hfill 0\\ \hfill 0& \hfill 1& \hfill 0& \hfill 0\\ \hfill 0& \hfill 0& \hfill 1& \hfill 0\\ \hfill 0& \hfill 0& \hfill 0& \hfill 1\end{array}\right),C=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}\hfill 0& \hfill 1& \hfill 0& \hfill 0\\ \hfill 1& \hfill 0& \hfill 0& \hfill 0\\ \hfill 0& \hfill 0& \hfill 0& \hfill 1\\ \hfill 0& \hfill 0& \hfill 1& \hfill 0\end{array}\right),\gamma _0=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}\hfill 0& \hfill 0& \hfill 1& \hfill 0\\ \hfill 0& \hfill 0& \hfill 0& \hfill 1\\ \hfill 1& \hfill 0& \hfill 0& \hfill 0\\ \hfill 0& \hfill 1& \hfill 0& \hfill 0\end{array}\right).$$
(36)
Here, $`(\gamma _5C)^T=\gamma _5C`$.

In conclusion, we would like to emphasize that the phenomenon of existence in Nature of three generations of fundamental fermions (leptons and quarks) can be understood in a satisfactory way on the base of two postulates:

(i) For all fundamental particles of matter the Dirac square-root procedure $`\sqrt{p^2}\mathrm{\Gamma }^{(N)}p`$ works, leading in the interaction-free case to the sequence $`N=1,2,3,\mathrm{}`$ of Dirac-type equations (4), satisfied by the sequence $`N=1,2,3,\mathrm{}`$ of wave functions or fields $`\psi ^{(N)}(x)\left(\psi _{\alpha _1\alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N}^{(N)}(x)\right)`$, where $`\alpha _1`$ is a ”centre-of-mass” Dirac bispinor index and $`\alpha _2,\mathrm{},\alpha _N`$ are ”relative” Dirac bispinor indices.

(ii) The ”centre-of-mass” Dirac bispinor index $`\alpha _1`$ is coupled to the Standard Model gauge fields through the term $`g\gamma _{\alpha _1\beta _1}A(x)`$ in the Dirac-type equation (13), while the ”relative” Dirac bispinor indices $`\alpha _2,\mathrm{},\alpha _N`$ are all free undistinguishable physical objects obeying Fermi statistics along with the Pauli principle (called then ”intrinsic Pauli principle”) which requires the full antisymmetry of $`\psi _{\alpha _1\alpha _2\mathrm{}\alpha _N}^{(N)}(x)`$ with respect to $`\alpha _2,\mathrm{},\alpha _N`$.

This antisymmetry allows only for three $`N=1,3,5`$ in the case of $`N`$ odd, and for two $`N=2,4`$ in the case of $`N`$ even. Hence, unavoidably, there follow three and only three generations of fundamental fermions (leptons and quarks) and two and only two generations of some fundamental bosons (not recognized yet). The former carry spin 1/2 and the latter spin 0 (as was argued in Ref. ). All possess a conventional Standard Model signature, suppressed in our notation.

The Dirac-type matrices $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mu ^{(N)}`$, appearing in the square-root procedure $`\sqrt{p^2}\mathrm{\Gamma }^{(N)}p`$, are here constructed by means of the Clifford algebra (3) of matrices $`\gamma _{i\mu }^{(N)}`$, and then embedded into of the Clifford algebra (5) of matrices $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{i\mu }^{(N)}`$ via a Jacobi definition (6), where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{1\mu }^{(N)}\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mu ^{(N)}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{2\mu }^{(N)},\mathrm{},\mathrm{\Gamma }_{N\mu }^{(N)}`$ play the role of ”centre-of-mass” and ”relative” Dirac-type matrices, respectively, defining one ”centre-of-mass” and $`N1`$ ”relative” Dirac bispinor indices ($`\alpha _1`$ and $`\alpha _2,\mathrm{},\alpha _N`$).

References


text:
# From Laser Induced Line Narrowing To Electromagnetically Induced Transparency: Closed System Analysis

## I Homogeneously Broadened System

We consider a model scheme depicted in Fig. 1. The transition $`ac`$ is coupled to a coherent driving field and the transition $`ab`$ is coupled to a weak probe field. The atom-field interaction Hamiltonian can be written as

$$𝒱=\mathrm{}\alpha e^{i\nu t}|ab|\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Omega }e^{i\nu _0t}|ac|+\mathrm{H}.\mathrm{c}.,$$
(1)
where $`\alpha `$ is the Rabi frequency of the probe field, $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ are the Rabi frequency of the driving field. In this model we take the decay rate from the level $`a`$ to $`b`$ ($`c`$) as $`\gamma `$ ($`\gamma ^{}`$). The relaxation between the lower levels is denoted as $`\gamma _{bc}`$ such that the decay rate of the off-diagonal density matrix element ($`\rho _{bc}`$) is defined as $`\gamma _{bc}`$.

The equations of motion for the density matrix elements in a rotating frame are then given by

$`\dot{\rho }_{ab}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{ab}\rho _{ab}i\alpha (\rho _{aa}\rho _{bb})+i\mathrm{\Omega }\rho _{cb}`$ (3)
$`\dot{\rho }_{cb}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{cb}\rho _{cb}i\alpha \rho _{ca}+i\mathrm{\Omega }\rho _{ab}`$ (4)
$`\dot{\rho }_{ac}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{ac}\rho _{ac}i\alpha \rho _{bc}i\mathrm{\Omega }(\rho _{aa}\rho _{cc})`$ (5)
$`\dot{\rho }_{cc}`$ $`=`$ $`\gamma _{bc}\rho _{cc}+\gamma ^{}\rho _{aa}+\gamma _{bc}\rho _{bb}i\mathrm{\Omega }(\rho _{ca}\rho _{ac})`$ (6)
$`\dot{\rho }_{aa}`$ $`=`$ $`(\gamma +\gamma ^{})\rho _{aa}i\alpha (\rho _{ab}\rho _{ba})i\mathrm{\Omega }(\rho _{ac}\rho _{ca}).`$ (7)
Here we assume that the Rabi frequencies are real, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{ij}`$’s are defined as $`\gamma _{ij}+i\mathrm{\Delta }_{ij}`$, where

$`\gamma _{ab}`$ $`=`$ $`\gamma _{ac}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}(\gamma +\gamma ^{}+\gamma _{bc}),\gamma _{cb}=\gamma _{bc}.`$ (8)
and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{ij}`$’s are given as $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{ab}=\omega _{ab}\nu `$, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{ac}=\omega _{ac}\nu _0`$, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{cb}=\mathrm{\Delta }_{ab}\mathrm{\Delta }_{ac}`$.

For a weak probe field, first order solution for the off-diagonal density matrix element $`\rho _{ab}`$ (which governs the absorption of the probe field) can be found in steady state as

$$\rho _{ab}^{(1)}=\frac{i\alpha }{\mathrm{\Gamma }_{ab}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{cb}+\mathrm{\Omega }^2}\left[\mathrm{\Gamma }_{cb}(\rho _{aa}^{(0)}\rho _{bb}^{(0)})+\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }^2}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_{ca}}(\rho _{cc}^{(0)}\rho _{aa}^{(0)})\right].$$
(9)
where $`\rho _{ll}^{(0)}`$ is the population in level $`l`$ in the absence of the probe field. The susceptibility is then written as

$$\chi =\eta \left\{\frac{\rho _{ab}^{(1)}}{\alpha }\right\},$$
(10)
where $`\eta `$ is given by $`\eta (3/8\pi )N\gamma \lambda ^3`$ for the atomic number density $`N`$ and the wavelength $`\lambda `$. The effect of the probe field intnsity on the susceptibility is ignored by using the linear approximation .

### A Optical pumping and population distribution

Let us find the population of each level in the absence of the probe field (i.e. the zeroth order population). Obviously, if the driving field is not turned on, we have $`\rho _{aa}=0`$ and $`\rho _{bb}=\rho _{cc}=1/2`$ from Eq. (I). Now as the driving field being turned on, in steady state, we have from Eq. (Ic,e)

$`\rho _{ac}^{(0)}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{i\mathrm{\Omega }}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_{ac}}}(\rho _{aa}^{(0)}\rho _{cc}^{(0)}),`$ (11)
$`\rho _{aa}^{(0)}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{i\mathrm{\Omega }}{\gamma +\gamma ^{}}}(\rho _{ac}^{(0)}\rho _{ca}^{(0)}).`$ (12)
Let us now assume, for the sake of simplicity, that the decay rate from the level $`a`$ to $`c`$ is same as the decay rate from the level $`a`$ to $`b`$, i,e. $`\gamma ^{}=\gamma `$ and the driving field detuning is denoted as $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$. Then, we have $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{ac}=\gamma _{ac}+i\mathrm{\Delta }_{ac}=(2\gamma +\gamma _{bc})/2+i\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$, and

$$\rho _{ac}^{(0)}\rho _{ca}^{(0)}=\frac{i2\mathrm{\Omega }(\gamma +\gamma _{bc}/2)}{(\gamma +\gamma _{bc}/2)^2+\mathrm{\Delta }_0^2}\left(\rho _{aa}^{(0)}\rho _{cc}^{(0)}\right).$$
(13)
By Eqs. (12) and (13) we obtain

$$\left[2\gamma +\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }^2}{X}\right]\rho _{aa}^{(0)}=\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }^2}{X}\rho _{cc}^{(0)},$$
(14)
where

$$X\frac{[(\gamma +\gamma _{bc}/2)^2+\mathrm{\Delta }_0^2]}{2(\gamma +\gamma _{bc}/2)}.$$
(15)
Note that Eq. (Id) can be written as

$`\dot{\rho }_{cc}`$ $`=`$ $`\left(\gamma _{bc}+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }^2}{X}}\right)\rho _{cc}+\left(\gamma +{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }^2}{X}}\right)\rho _{aa}+\gamma _{bc}\rho _{bb}`$ (16)
Hence using $`\rho _{bb}=1\rho _{aa}\rho _{cc}`$, we obtain the zeroth order population

$`\rho _{aa}^{(0)}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2\gamma _{bc}\mathrm{\Omega }^2}{2D}},`$ (18)
$`\rho _{bb}^{(0)}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{4\gamma X\gamma _{bc}+2\gamma _{bc}\mathrm{\Omega }^2+2\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma }{2D}},`$ (19)
$`\rho _{cc}^{(0)}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{4\gamma X\gamma _{bc}+2\gamma _{bc}\mathrm{\Omega }^2}{2D}},`$ (20)
where $`D4\gamma _{bc}\gamma X+3\gamma _{bc}\mathrm{\Omega }^2+\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma .`$ For $`\gamma \gamma _{bc}`$, these can be simplified as

$`\rho _{aa}^{(0)}\rho _{cc}^{(0)}`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{4\gamma X\gamma _{bc}}{2D}},\rho _{bb}^{(0)}{\displaystyle \frac{4\gamma X\gamma _{bc}+2\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma }{2D}},`$ (21)
where

$`X`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma ^2+\mathrm{\Delta }_0^2}{2\gamma }},D4\gamma _{bc}\gamma X+\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma .`$ (22)
Note that when the driving field is on resonance, the usual EIT condition $`\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma _{bc}\gamma `$ is equivalent to $`\rho _{bb}1`$ in Eq. (21); i.e. a complete optical pumping to the level $`b`$ is required to achieve EIT.

### B Transmission width of EIT

Now let us consider the transmission width under the condition of a resonant driving field. When we have a resonant driving field, i.e. $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0=0`$, from Eq. (22). we find $`X\gamma /2`$ and $`D\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma `$. Therefore, $`\rho _{aa}^{(0)}\rho _{cc}^{(0)}0`$ and $`\rho _{bb}^{(0)}1`$, i.e. all the populations are in the level $`b`$. As is discussed in the previous section, the condition $`\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma _{bc}\gamma `$ leads to a complete optical pumping in the homogeneously broadened case.

Eqs. (9,10) then yield

$`\chi `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\eta (i)\mathrm{\Gamma }_{cb}(1)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_{ab}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{cb}+\mathrm{\Omega }^2}}.`$ (23)
Since $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{ab}\gamma +i\mathrm{\Delta }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{cb}=\gamma _{bc}+i\mathrm{\Delta }`$, we have

$`\chi `$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\eta i}{Z}}(\gamma _{bc}+i\mathrm{\Delta })\left[(\mathrm{\Omega }^2\mathrm{\Delta }^2)i\mathrm{\Delta }\gamma \right],`$ (24)
where $`Z=(\mathrm{\Omega }^2\mathrm{\Delta }^2)+\mathrm{\Delta }^2\gamma ^2`$. Hence, the imaginary part is obtained as

$`\chi ^{\prime \prime }`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\eta }{Z}}\left[\gamma _{bc}(\mathrm{\Omega }^2\mathrm{\Delta }^2)+\mathrm{\Delta }^2\gamma \right].`$ (25)
Since the maximum of $`\chi ^{\prime \prime }`$ is $`1/\gamma `$ at $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega }`$, we may define $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{EIT}`$, the half width of EIT as $`\chi ^{\prime \prime }(\mathrm{\Delta }=\mathrm{\Gamma }_{EIT})=1/2\gamma `$, which gives

$$\mathrm{\Delta }^4\mathrm{\Delta }^2(2\mathrm{\Omega }^2+\gamma ^2)+\mathrm{\Omega }^4=0,$$
(26)
and the solution is

$$\mathrm{\Delta }^2=\frac{\gamma ^2}{2}\left[2s+1\pm \sqrt{4s+1}\right],$$
(27)
where $`s=\mathrm{\Omega }^2/\gamma ^2`$. Hence for $`s1`$ we have

$`\mathrm{\Delta }^2`$ $``$ $`\gamma ^2(s+\sqrt{s})`$ (28)
$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ $``$ $`\pm \mathrm{\Omega }\pm {\displaystyle \frac{\gamma }{2}},`$ (29)
which shows that the absorption peaks are at $`\pm \mathrm{\Omega }`$ with full width $`\gamma `$ and the half width of transmission is obtained as

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{EIT}`$ $``$ $`\mathrm{\Omega }{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma }{2}}.`$ (30)
On the other hand, for $`s1`$ we have

$`\mathrm{\Delta }^2`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma ^2}{2}}\left[2s+1\pm \left(1+2s2s^2\right)\right].`$ (31)
Therefore,

$`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ $``$ $`\pm \left(\gamma +{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }^2}{\gamma }}\right),\pm {\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }^2}{\gamma }}`$ (32)
Hence, when $`\mathrm{\Omega }\gamma `$, we have the absorption profile showing a whole envelope with half width $`\gamma +\mathrm{\Omega }^2/\gamma `$, and at the center there exists a transmission line with its half width as

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_{EIT}\mathrm{\Omega }^2/\gamma .$$
(33)
We note that under the EIT condition $`\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma \gamma _{bc}`$, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{EIT}`$ cannot be smaller than $`\gamma _{bc}`$.

## II Inhomogeneouly Broadened System

Now if the system is Doppler broadened, for the atoms with velocity $`v`$, the radiation fields are Doppler shifted as $`\nu \nu (1v/c)=\nu kv`$ for the probe field with $`k`$ as the component of the wavevector on the propagation axis, and $`\nu _0\nu _0(1v/c)=\nu _0k^{}v`$ for the driving field. Hence, for a Doppler broadened system, we replace $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{ij}`$ as $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{ab}\mathrm{\Delta }_{ab}+kv`$ $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{ac}\mathrm{\Delta }_{ac}+k^{}v`$, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{cb}\mathrm{\Delta }_{cb}+(kk^{})v`$. In the present analysis we assume that the energy difference between the level $`b`$ and $`c`$ is small enough so that we have $`k^{}k`$ and the probe field and the driving field are copropagating such that $`(kk^{})v`$ term can be neglected. Hence the atomic polarization should be averaged over the entire velocity distribution such that

$$\chi =d(kv)f(kv)\eta \left\{\frac{\rho _{ab}(kv)}{\alpha }\right\},$$
(34)
where $`f(kv)`$ is the velocity distribution function, and again $`\eta `$ is given by Eq. (10). We now consider the case where the inhomogeneous line is bigger than any other quantities involved such that $`W_D\mathrm{\Omega },\gamma \gamma _{bc}`$, and the condition $`\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma _{bc}\gamma `$ is still satisfied.

The population distribution in Eq. (21) is now different for atoms with different velocities. As we mentioned in Sec. II, we then need to replace $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ with $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0+k^{}v\mathrm{\Delta }_0+kv`$ for the expression of $`X`$ in Eq. (22) such that for a resonant driving field ($`\mathrm{\Delta }_0=0`$) we have

$`X`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma ^2+(kv)^2}{2\gamma }},D2\gamma _{bc}[\gamma ^2+(kv)^2]+\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma .`$ (35)
Hence, for the atom with its velocity $`v`$, $`\rho _{ab}(kv)`$ can be written

$`\rho _{ab}(kv)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{i\alpha }{Y}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2D}}[\mathrm{\Gamma }_{cb}(4\gamma X\gamma _{bc}+2\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma )`$ (37)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }^24\gamma X\gamma _{bc}}{\gamma +\gamma _{bc}/2+ikv}}],`$
where $`Y=(\gamma +\gamma _{bc}/2+i\mathrm{\Delta }+ikv)(\gamma _{bc}+i\mathrm{\Delta })+\mathrm{\Omega }^2`$. Here we have assumed $`k^{}k`$ and $`(kk^{})v`$ terms can be neglected for the copropagating fields.

### A Doppler average using a Lorentzian distribution

We now need to evaluate the expression of susceptibility given in Eq. (34).Normally, the velocity distribution is described by a Gaussian function given by

$$f(kv)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{\pi }ku}\mathrm{exp}\left[\frac{(kv)^2}{(ku)^2}\right],$$
(38)
where $`u=\sqrt{2k_BT/M}`$ is the most probable speed of the atom given by temperature $`T`$ and the atomic mass $`M`$. Then, the full width at half maximum is given as $`2W_D=2\sqrt{\mathrm{ln}2}ku`$. However, in our analysis, for the sake of simple analytic expressions, we adopt a Lorentzian distribution of FWHM of $`2W_D`$, instead of a Gaussian distribution, such that

$$f(kv)=\frac{W_D/\pi }{W_D^2+(kv)^2}.$$
(39)
The two distributions are shown in Fig. 2, and there we see that a Gaussian distribution with the same width (FWHM $`2W_D`$) has its maximum larger than that of Lorentzian distribution by a factor of $`\sqrt{\pi \mathrm{ln}2}`$. Hence, if we multiply the factor $`\sqrt{\pi \mathrm{ln}2}`$ in Eq. (39), the central distribution becomes very similar to that of Gaussian as illustrated in Fig. 2(c).

In Fig. 3 the absorption profiles are described numerically by using the two different distributions. We note that the two distributions give an almost identical result when the factor $`\sqrt{\pi \mathrm{ln}2}`$ is taken into account, see Fig. 3(c).

Now using the distribution of Eq. (39), Eq. (34) may be considered as a contour integration in the complex plane. We find three poles in the the upper half plane at

$`kv`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Delta }(\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma _{bc}^2\mathrm{\Delta }^2)+i(\mathrm{\Delta }^2\gamma +\gamma _{bc}^2\gamma +\gamma _{bc}\mathrm{\Omega }^2)}{\gamma _{bc}^2+\mathrm{\Delta }^2}},`$ (41)
$`iW_D,i\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma }{2\gamma _{bc}}}},`$
and two poles in the lower half plane as

$$kv=iW_D,i\sqrt{\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma }{2\gamma _{bc}}}.$$
(42)
We can see that one pole is from the expression $`Y`$, two poles ($`\pm i\sqrt{\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma /2\gamma _{bc}}`$) are from the expression $`D`$ in Eq. (37), and two poles ($`\pm iW_D`$) are from velocity distribution function . Let us take the contour in the lower half plane and denote

$$\chi =\chi _1+\chi _2,$$
(43)
where $`\chi _i`$’s are the contributions from the two poles at $`iW_D`$ and $`i\sqrt{\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma /2\gamma _{bc}}`$, respectively. For the pole at $`kv=iW_D`$, we obtain

$`\chi _1`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{i\eta }{2Z_1A}}\left[(B_1\mathrm{\Delta }^2)i\mathrm{\Delta }W_D\right]\left[C_1i\mathrm{\Delta }D_1\right],`$ (44)
where $`A`$ is given by

$`A`$ $`=`$ $`2\gamma _{bc}W_D^2+\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma ,`$ (45)
and

$`Z_1`$ $`=`$ $`(\gamma _{bc}W_D+\mathrm{\Omega }^2\mathrm{\Delta }^2)^2+\mathrm{\Delta }^2W_D^2,`$ (46)
$`B_1`$ $`=`$ $`\gamma _{bc}W_D+\mathrm{\Omega }^2,`$ (47)
$`C_1`$ $`=`$ $`2\gamma _{bc}W_D(\gamma _{bc}W_D+\mathrm{\Omega }^2)2\gamma _{bc}\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma ,`$ (48)
$`D_1`$ $`=`$ $`2\gamma _{bc}W_D^2+2\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma .`$ (49)
For the pole at $`kv=i\sqrt{\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma /2\gamma _{bc}}`$, we have

$`\chi _2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{i\eta \mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma W_D}{2Z_2Ay}}\left[(B_2\mathrm{\Delta }^2)i\mathrm{\Delta }y\right]\left[C_2i\mathrm{\Delta }\right],`$ (50)
where $`y=\sqrt{\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma /2\gamma _{bc}}`$, and

$`Z_2`$ $`=`$ $`(\gamma _{bc}y+\mathrm{\Omega }^2\mathrm{\Delta }^2)^2+\mathrm{\Delta }^2y^2,`$ (51)
$`B_2`$ $`=`$ $`\gamma _{bc}y+\mathrm{\Omega }^2,`$ (52)
$`C_2`$ $`=`$ $`\gamma _{bc}+\mathrm{\Omega }^2/y.`$ (53)
Note that we have assumed $`\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma _{bc}\gamma `$, $`W_D\mathrm{\Omega },\gamma \gamma _{bc}`$.

### B Absorption and dispersion at EIT resonance

The absorption profile is now obtained by the imaginary parts of Eqs.(44, 50) as

$`\chi _1^{\prime \prime }`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\eta }{2Z_1A}}\left[(B_1\mathrm{\Delta }^2)C_1\mathrm{\Delta }^2W_DD_1\right],`$ (54)
$`\chi _2^{\prime \prime }`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\eta \mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma W_D}{2Z_2Ay}}\left[(B_2\mathrm{\Delta }^2)C_2\mathrm{\Delta }^2y\right].`$ (55)
Taking $`\mathrm{\Delta }=0`$, we found

$`\chi _1^{\prime \prime }(\mathrm{\Delta }=0)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\eta }{A}}\left[\gamma _{bc}W_D{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma _{bc}\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma }{+\gamma _{bc}W_D+\mathrm{\Omega }^2}}\right],`$ (56)
$`\chi _2^{\prime \prime }(\mathrm{\Delta }=0)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\eta \gamma _{bc}W_D}{A}}\left[1{\displaystyle \frac{2\gamma _{bc}y}{\gamma _{bc}y+\mathrm{\Omega }^2}}\right],`$ (57)
which gives the minimum value of absorption at the EIT line center as

$$\chi ^{\prime \prime }(\mathrm{\Delta }=0)=\frac{\eta \gamma _{bc}}{\gamma _{bc}W_D+\mathrm{\Omega }^2}\left[\frac{\sqrt{x}}{1+\sqrt{x}}\right],$$
(58)
where

$$x=\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma }{2\gamma _{bc}W_D^2}.$$
(59)
We note that when $`x1`$,

$`\chi ^{\prime \prime }|_{\mathrm{\Delta }=0}`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\eta \gamma _{bc}}{\gamma _{bc}W_D+\mathrm{\Omega }^2}}\sqrt{x}<{\displaystyle \frac{\eta \sqrt{x}}{W_D}}{\displaystyle \frac{\eta }{W_D}},`$ (60)
and when $`x1`$,

$`\chi ^{\prime \prime }|_{\mathrm{\Delta }=0}`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\eta \gamma _{bc}}{\gamma _{bc}W_D+\mathrm{\Omega }^2}}<{\displaystyle \frac{\eta \gamma _{bc}}{\mathrm{\Omega }^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\eta \gamma }{W_D^2}}.`$ (61)
In both cases the EIT can be achieved, i.e., $`\chi ^{\prime \prime }|_{\mathrm{\Delta }=0}\eta /W_D`$. Therefore, the condition for EIT is still $`\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma \gamma _{bc}`$, the same as in the homogeneously broadened system.

One interesting quantity here is the slope of the real part of the susceptibility, which is important in precision magnetometry, and also governs the group velocity of the probe light. From Eqs. (44,50) the real part of the susceptibility is found as

$`\chi _1^{}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\eta \mathrm{\Delta }}{2Z_1A}}\left[W_DC_1+D_1(B_1\mathrm{\Delta }^2)\right],`$ (62)
$`\chi _2^{}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\eta \mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma W_D}{2Z_2Ay}}\mathrm{\Delta }\left[C_2y+(B_2\mathrm{\Delta }^2)\right],`$ (63)
and its derivative at resonance is given by

$$\frac{\chi _1^{}}{\mathrm{\Delta }}|_{\mathrm{\Delta }=0}=\frac{\eta \gamma }{A},\frac{\chi _2^{}}{\mathrm{\Delta }}|_{\mathrm{\Delta }=0}=\frac{\eta \sqrt{2\gamma _{bc}\gamma W_D^2/\mathrm{\Omega }^2}}{A}.$$
(64)
Hence, we obtained the slope of $`\chi ^{}`$ at $`\mathrm{\Delta }=0`$ as

$`{\displaystyle \frac{d\chi ^{}}{d\mathrm{\Delta }}}|_{\mathrm{\Delta }=0}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\eta }{\mathrm{\Omega }^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{x}}{1+\sqrt{x}}}.`$ (65)
Therefore, when $`x1`$, it approaches to $`\eta /\mathrm{\Omega }^2`$ and when $`x1`$, it goes as $`(\eta /\mathrm{\Omega }^2)\sqrt{x}`$. We note that, under the EIT condition $`\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma _{bc}\gamma `$, $`(\eta /\mathrm{\Omega }^2)\sqrt{x}`$ is still much larger than $`(\eta /\mathrm{\Omega }^2)(\gamma /W_D)`$.

$`{\displaystyle \frac{d\chi ^{}}{d\mathrm{\Delta }}}|_{\mathrm{\Delta }=0}`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\eta }{\mathrm{\Omega }}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2\gamma _{bc}\gamma }}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\gamma }{W_D}}\right).`$ (66)
### C Transmission width of EIT resonance

In order to estimate the linewidth of EIT we take the same procedure as in Sec. II: First, we find that the maximum of $`\chi ^{\prime \prime }`$ as $`\chi _{\mathrm{max}}\eta /W_D`$ at $`\mathrm{\Delta }\pm \mathrm{\Omega }`$. Then, we evaluate $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ which defines $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{EIT}`$ as

$$\chi ^{\prime \prime }(\mathrm{\Delta }=\mathrm{\Gamma }_{EIT})=\eta /2W_D.$$
(67)
By Eq. (55) it readily gives the following equation:

$$\mathrm{\Delta }^4\frac{2\gamma _{bc}\mathrm{\Omega }^2}{\gamma }\frac{2\gamma _{bc}W_D^2+\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma }{2\gamma _{bc}W_D^2}\mathrm{\Delta }^2\frac{2\gamma _{bc}\mathrm{\Omega }^2}{\gamma }\mathrm{\Omega }^4W_D^2=0,$$
(68)
which yields the half width of the EIT for the Doppler broadened system given by

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{EIT}^2`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma _{bc}}{\gamma }}\mathrm{\Omega }^2(1+x)\left[1+\left\{1+{\displaystyle \frac{4x}{(1+x)^2}}\right\}^{1/2}\right],`$ (69)
$``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{2\gamma _{bc}}{\gamma }}\mathrm{\Omega }^2(1+x),`$ (70)
where $`x=\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma /2\gamma _{bc}W_D^2`$ given by Eq. (59). Now if we define a saturation intensity as

$$\mathrm{\Omega }_s^2=\frac{2\gamma _{bc}W_D^2}{\gamma },$$
(71)
the linewidth expression can be written as

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{EIT}`$ $``$ $`\left[\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{2\gamma _{bc}}{\gamma }}}\mathrm{\Omega }\right]\sqrt{1+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Omega }^2}{\mathrm{\Omega }_s^2}}}`$ (72)
Here we can see that in the limit $`\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{\Omega }_s`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{EIT}`$ is proportional to the Rabi frequency of the driving field. Such a linewidth was predicted by Feld and Javan in the study of laser induced line narrowing . On the other hand, in the limit $`\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{\Omega }_s`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{EIT}`$ is proportional to the intensity of the driving field ($`\mathrm{\Omega }^2/W_D`$). This power broadening feature is shown in Fig. 4.

The expression of Eq. (72) shows a reminiscence of power broadening factor in the description of hole burning. In place of the homogeneous linewidth in the expression of hole burning, here we have an effective width which is determined by the spectral packet involved in population trapping .

### D The role of optical pumping

We have seen that the parameter $`x=\mathrm{\Omega }/\mathrm{\Omega }_s`$ plays an important role in the case of inhomogeneously broadened medium. Let us here examine the physical meaning of the parameter.

Suppose the system is homogeneously broadened. When the driving is on resonance, the optical pumping rate from the level $`c`$ is then order of $`\mathrm{\Omega }^2/\gamma `$, as given in Eq. (16). A complete optical pumping within the homogeneous linewidth, is then possible if this rate is larger than the pumping from level $`b`$ to $`c`$: $`\mathrm{\Omega }^2/\gamma \gamma _{bc}`$. This, in turn, gives the EIT condition. When we have the driving field detuned by $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$, the optical pumping rate decreases by a factor of $`\gamma ^2/(\gamma ^2+\mathrm{\Delta }_0^2)`$. Again for a complete optical pumping we need $`\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma /[\gamma ^2+\mathrm{\Delta }_0^2]\gamma _{bc}`$.

If we now assume that we have the resonant driving field $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0=0`$ again, and, instead, the atoms are moving. Then, for atoms with velocity $`v`$, the optical pumping rate becomes $`\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma /[\gamma ^2+(kv)^2]`$. Then, on the average, to have a complete optical pumping in a Doppler broadened system we need to require $`\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma /(\gamma ^2+W_D^2)\gamma _{bc}`$, which corresponds to $`x1`$ (assuming $`W_D\gamma `$), i.e. $`\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{\Omega }_s2\gamma _{bc}W_D^2/\gamma `$. Hence, the parameter $`x=\mathrm{\Omega }^2/\mathrm{\Omega }_s^2`$ represents the degree of saturation in $`bc`$ transition, or the degree of optical pumping from the level $`c`$ to $`b`$ within the inhomogeneous linewidth.

## III Comparison with an open system description

In this section we examine the case of an open system and show that the result is essentially the same as our model of a closed system. The open system is modeled for the atoms that are coming in and out of the interaction (with the radiation fields) region. Although in such a case all the levels have the same decay rate (say, $`\gamma _{bc}`$), the upper level can decay much faster than the time of flight through the interaction region (for example, radiative decay or collisional decay). Hence we assume that the lower levels $`b`$ and $`c`$ decay with rate $`\gamma _{bc}`$ and the upper level $`a`$ decays with rate $`\gamma _a`$ which is much bigger than $`\gamma _{bc}`$ (see Fig. 5).

Furthermore, for simplicity, we assume that the atoms are coming into the interaction region with a same rate for the lower levels. Under these assumption, the equation of motion for the density matrix elements can be written as

$`\dot{\rho }_{ab}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{ab}\rho _{ab}i\alpha (\rho _{aa}\rho _{bb})+i\mathrm{\Omega }\rho _{cb},`$ (74)
$`\dot{\rho }_{cb}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{cb}\rho _{cb}i\alpha \rho _{ca}+i\mathrm{\Omega }\rho _{ab},`$ (75)
$`\dot{\rho }_{ac}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{ac}\rho _{ac}i\alpha \rho _{bc}i\mathrm{\Omega }(\rho _{aa}\rho _{cc}),`$ (76)
$`\dot{\rho }_{aa}`$ $`=`$ $`\gamma _a\rho _{aa}i\alpha (\rho _{ab}\rho _{ba})i\mathrm{\Omega }(\rho _{ac}\rho _{ca}),`$ (77)
$`\dot{\rho }_{bb}`$ $`=`$ $`r\gamma _{bc}\rho _{bb}i\alpha (\rho _{ab}\rho _{ba})i\mathrm{\Omega }(\rho _{ac}\rho _{ca}),`$ (78)
$`\dot{\rho }_{cc}`$ $`=`$ $`r\gamma _{bc}\rho _{cc}i\mathrm{\Omega }(\rho _{ca}\rho _{ac}).`$ (79)
Here the notations are the same as Eq. (I). Note that now we have $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{ac}=(\gamma _a+\gamma _{bc})/2+i\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$, which gives

$$X^{}\frac{[(\gamma _a/2+\gamma _{bc}/2)^2+\mathrm{\Delta }_0^2]}{2(\gamma _a/2+\gamma _{bc}/2)}.$$
(80)
Again if we assume that $`\gamma _a\gamma _{bc}`$, the populations are found as

$`\rho _{aa}^{(0)}\rho _{cc}^{(0)}`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma _{bc}\gamma _aX^{}}{2D^{}}},\rho _{bb}^{(0)}{\displaystyle \frac{\gamma _{bc}\gamma _aX^{}+\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma _a}{2D^{}}},`$ (81)
where

$`X^{}`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{(\gamma _a/2)^2+\mathrm{\Delta }_0^2}{\gamma _a}},D^{}\gamma _{bc}\gamma _aX^{}+\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma _a.`$ (82)
Comparing Eq. (81) with (21), we can see that the population distribution is almost identical to the one for the model of closed system.

Furthermore, the expression for $`\rho _{ab}^{(1)}`$ is identical to the one for the closed system given in Eq. (9). Let us then recall Eq. (45) saying that $`A=2\gamma _{bc}W_D^2+\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma `$, which is obtained by putting $`iW_D`$ to $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0`$ in the expression of $`D`$ in Eq. (I A). The sign of $`A`$ determines whether the crucial parameter $`x`$ is $`>1`$ or $`<1`$. Similarly, here for the open system, when we put $`\mathrm{\Delta }_0=iW_D`$, we can define $`A^{}`$ as $`A^{}\gamma _{bc}W_D^2+\mathrm{\Omega }^2\gamma _a`$ such that we have $`x^{}=\mathrm{\Omega }\gamma _a/\gamma _{bc}W_D^2`$ as the parameter which plays the same role as $`x`$ in Eq. (22). Hence, by replacing $`\gamma _a2\gamma `$, we have the open system description almost identical to the description for our model scheme of the closed system A detailed analysis of the open system will be presented elsewhere .

## IV Summary

In this paper, we have studied the transmission width of EIT in a three-level $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ system. The Doppler averaged susceptibility is found by using a Lorentzian velocity distribution rather than the Gaussian distribution. Then we have shown the requirement for achieving EIT, and the analytic expression of the EIT linewidth. The saturation intensity $`\mathrm{\Omega }_s^2`$ defines the degree of optical pumping as $`\mathrm{\Omega }^2/\mathrm{\Omega }_s^2`$, and represents the condition under which the broadening is either linear or quadratic in the Rabi frequency of the driving field.

## Acknowledgments

We would like to thank B. G. Englert, O. Kocharovskaya, A. B. Matsko, I. Protsenko, M. O. Scully, V. L. Velichansky, and A. S. Zibrov for helpful discussions. This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research, the National Science Foundation, and the Welch Foundation.