WKB analysis of PT-symmetric Sturm–Liouville problems

Most studies of PT-symmetric quantum-mechanical Hamiltonians have considered the Schrödinger eigenvalue problem on an infinite domain. This paper examines the consequences of imposing the boundary conditions on a finite domain. As is the case with regular Hermitian Sturm–Liouville problems, the eigenvalues of the PT-symmetric Sturm–Liouville problem grow like n2 for large n. However, the novelty is that a PT eigenvalue problem on a finite domain typically exhibits a sequence of critical points at which pairs of eigenvalues cease to be real and become complex conjugates of one another. For the potentials considered here this sequence of critical points is associated with a turning point on the imaginary axis in the complex plane. WKB analysis is used to calculate the asymptotic behaviours of the real eigenvalues and the locations of the critical points. The method turns out to be surprisingly accurate even at low energies. This article is part of a special issue of Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical devoted to 'Quantum physics with non-Hermitian operators'. (paper)