Third-order differential ladder operators and supersymmetric quantum mechanics

Hierarchies of one-dimensional Hamiltonians in quantum mechanics admitting third-order differential ladder operators are studied. Each Hamiltonian has associated three-step Darboux (pseudo)-cycles and Painleve IV equations as a closure condition. The whole hierarchy is generated applying some operations on the cycles. These operations are investigated in the frame of supersymmetric quantum mechanics and mainly involve algebraic manipulations. A consistent geometric representation for the hierarchy and cycles is built that also helps in understanding the operations. Three kinds of hierarchies are distinguished and a realization based on the harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian is supplied, giving an interpretation for the spectral properties of the Hamiltonians of each hierarchy