On the quantum dynamics of a general time-dependent coupled oscillator

Abstract

By using the Lewis–Riesenfeld invariants theory, we investigate the quantum dynamics of a two-dimensional (2D) time-dependent coupled oscillator. We introduce a unitary transformation and show the conditions under which the invariant operator is uncoupled to describe two simple harmonic oscillators with time-independent frequencies and unit masses. The decouplement allows us to easily obtain the corresponding eigenstates. The generalization to three-dimensional (3D) time-dependent coupled oscillator is briefly discussed where a diagonalized invariant, which is exactly the sum of three simple harmonic oscillators, is obtained under specific conditions on the parameters.