Energy-dependent point interaction: Self-adjointness

Abstract

Recently, we constructed an energy-dependent point interaction (EDPI) in its most general form in one-dimensional quantum mechanics. In this paper, we show that stationary solutions of the Schrodinger equation with the EDPI form a complete set. Then any nonstationary solution of the time-dependent Schrodinger equation can be expressed as a linear combination of stationary solutions. This, however, does not necessarily mean that the EDPI is self-adjoint and the time-development of the nonstationary state is unitary. The EDPI is self-adjoint provided that the stationary solutions are all orthogonal to one another. We illustrate situations in which this orthogonality condition is not satisfied.