Quantum mechanics of a free particle on a pointed plane revisited

The detailed study of a quantum free particle on a pointed plane is performed. It is shown that there is no problem with a mysterious ``quantum anticentrifugal force" acting on a free particle on a plane discussed in a very recent paper: M. A. Cirone et al, Phys. Rev. A 65, 022101 (2002), but we deal with a purely topological efect related to distinguishing a point on a plane. The new results are introduced concerning self-adjoint extensions of operators describing the free particle on a pointed plane as well as the role played by discrete symmetries in the analysis of such extensions.

K. Kowalski, K. Podlaski, J. Rembielinski · 2002