Quantization of the multidimensional rotor

Abstract

We reconsider the problem of quantising a particle on the $D$-dimensional sphere. Adopting a Lagrangian method of reducing the degrees of freedom, the quantum Hamiltonian is found to be the usual Schr\"odinger operator without any boundary term. The equivalence with the Dirac Hamiltonian approach is demonstrated, either in the cartesian or in the curvilinear basis. We also briefly comment on the path integral approach.