Combined state-adding and state-deleting approaches to type III multi-step rationally-extended potentials: applications to ladder operators and superintegrability

Abstract

Type III multi-step rationally-extended harmonic oscillator and radial harmonic oscillator potentials, characterized by a set of $k$ integers $m_1$, $m_2$, \ldots, $m_k$, such that $m_1 < m_2 < \cdots < m_k$ with $m_i$ even (resp.\ odd) for $i$ odd (resp.\ even), are considered. The state-adding and state-deleting approaches to these potentials in a supersymmetric quantum mechanical framework are combined to construct new ladder operators. The eigenstates of the Hamiltonians are shown to separate into $m_k+1$ infinite-dimensional unitary irreducible representations of the corresponding polynomial Heisenberg algebras. These ladder operators are then used to build a higher-order integral of motion for seven new infinite families of superintegrable two-dimensional systems separable in cartesian coordinates. The finite-dimensional unitary irreducible representations of the polynomial algebras of such systems are directly determined from the ladder operator action on the constituent one-dimensional Hamiltonian eigenstates and provide an algebraic derivation of the superintegrable systems whole spectrum including the level total degeneracies.