A singular one-dimensional bound state problem and its degeneracies

Abstract

We give a brief exposition of the formulation of the bound state problem for the one-dimensional system of N attractive Dirac delta potentials, as an N×N matrix eigenvalue problem (ΦA=ωA). The main aim of this paper is to illustrate that the non-degeneracy theorem in one dimension breaks down for the equidistantly distributed Dirac delta potential, where the matrix Φ becomes a special form of the circulant matrix. We then give elementary proof that the ground state is always non-degenerate and the associated wave function may be chosen to be positive by using the Perron-Frobenius theorem. We also prove that removing a single center from the system of N delta centers shifts all the bound state energy levels upward as a simple consequence of the Cauchy interlacing theorem.