Quantum mechanics of particles constrained to spiral curves with application to polyene chains

Abstract

Abstract Context Due to advances in synthesizing lower-dimensional materials, there is the challenge of finding the wave equation that effectively describes quantum particles moving on 1D and 2D domains. Jensen and Koppe and Da Costa independently introduced a confining potential formalism showing that the effective constrained dynamics is subjected to a scalar geometry-induced potential; for the confinement to a curve, the potential depends on the curve’s curvature function. Method To characterize the $$\varvec{\pi }$$ π electrons in polyenes, we follow two approaches. First, we utilize a weakened Coulomb potential associated with a spiral curve. The solution to the Schrödinger equation with Dirichlet boundary conditions yields Bessel functions, and the spectrum is obtained analytically. We employ the particle-in-a-box model in the second approach, incorporating effective mass corrections. The $$\varvec{\pi }$$ π -$$\varvec{\pi ^{*}}$$ π ∗ transitions of polyenes were calculated in good experimental agreement with both approaches, although with different wave functions.