Hindawi Publishing Corporation

International Journal of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences

Volumen 2012 ,Article ID 819308,9 pages
doi:10.1178/2012/819308
Research Article
A HAMILTONIAN OPERATOR WHOSE ENERGIES
ARE THE ZEROS OF THE RIEMANN XI-
FUNCTION
1

2
i x
| `
+

. ,
Jose Javier Garcia Moreta
Graduate student of Physics at the UPV/EHU (University of Basque country)
In Solid State Physics
Addres: Practicantes Adan y Grijalba 2 5 G
P.O 644 48920 Portugalete Vizcaya (Spain)
Phone: (00) 34 685 77 16 53
E-mail: josegarc2002@yahoo.es
MSC: 34L05 , 34L15, 65F40 , 35Q40 , 81Q05 , 81Q50
Received 16 August 2012; Accepted 24 October 2012
Academic Editor: Shigeru Kanemitsu
Copyright 2012 Jose Javier Garcia. This is an open access article distributed
under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
ABSTRACT: We give an spectral interpretation of the non-trivial zeros of the Riemann
Xi-function. The main idea of the paper is to find a Hamiltonian (Hermitian) operator in
the form
2
( ) H p f x +
with an even potential
( ) ( ) f x f x
whose energies are
precisely
2
n n
E
, the zeros of the Riemann Xi-function
1

2
i x
| `
+

. ,
.
In order to obtain this Hamiltonian we use the WKB method and the Bohr-sommerfeld
quantization condition for the energies. We also prove the fact that the Riemann Xi-
function is proportional to the Functional determinant
1
det (1 )
4
H s s
| `
+

. ,
in the
sense of a zeta-regularized determinant
In this paper and for simplicity we use units so
2 1 m h
Keywords: = Riemann Hypothesis, Functional determinant, WKB semiclassical
Approximation , Trace formula ,Boltes law.
1
1. Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization conditions and Riemann
zeros:
Before we introduce the Borh-sommerfeld quantization condtion , we need to
introduce the notation for the half derivative and the half integral operator, as
the Riemann-Liouville differintegral [10]
1
2
1
0 2
( ) 1 ( )
(1/ 2)
x
d f x d dtf t
dx x t
dx

1
2
1
0 2
( ) 1 ( )
(1/ 2)
x
d f x f t
dt
x t
dx

(1)
Why do we need the Bohr-sommerfeld quantizaton condition ?, the idea is to
get a Hamiltonian of the form
2
2
( )
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) =0
n
n n n n n
d x
H x f x x E x
dx

+ t
(2)
Here the potential is even
( ) ( ) f x f x
and the Eigenfunctions will satisfy the
identity
( ) =( 1) ( )
n
n n
x x
the idea is to recover this potential from the Bohr-Sommerfeld conditions.
The Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization conditions [6] for Energies are
1
2
2
C
pdq n
| `
+

. ,

0
2 ( ) ( )
a
dx E f x p x

( ) E f a
(3)
Here a is the classical turning point where the momentum of the particle is
0 p
,
( ) n N E
is the Eigenvalue staircase for the quantum system given as
( )
0
( )
n
n
N E H E E

and
1 x>0
( )
0 x<0
H x

'

is Heaviside step function.

The first integral inside (3) is a line integral taken over the closed orbit of the
classical system, equation (3) can be understood as an integral equation for the
inverse of the potential in the form
( ) 1 1
1
2
0 0
1
2 ( ) 2 ( ) 4 ( ) 4 2 ( )
2
a a E E
x
df
n E n E E V x dx E x D f x
dx

| `
+

. ,

(4)
From the last equation inside (3) we get an implicit equation for the potential in
the form
1
2
1
1
2
( ) ( )
d
f x n x
dx

, so the inverse of the potential is just the half-

derivative of the eigenvalue staircase.
2
For the special case of the Riemann zeros then the eigenvalue staircase is
2
0
1 1
( ) arg ( )
2
n
n
n E i E H E

| `
+

. ,

, with
2
( 1)
( ) ( )
2 2
s
s s s
s s

| `


. ,
So if we use the properties of the derivative of a power
( )
( )
1
1
k
k
k
d x
x
dx k

+
,
[10] ,then the implicit equation for the potential can be rewritten as the sum
2
1
2
0
( )
( )
n
n
n
H x
f x
x

with
1
=0
2
n
i
| `
+

. ,
or
1
2
1
1
2
1 1
( ) arg
2
d
f x i x
dx

| `
+

. ,

from the definition of spectral staircase of the Riemann Zeros.
In general the inverse of the potential will have 2 terms, an oscillating term
proportional to
1
2
1
2
1 1
arg
2
d
i x
dx

| `
+

. ,
given by the Boltes law [4] and another
smooth term much bigger which is proportional to the half derivative of
7 1
log
2 2 8
E E
O
e x
| `
| `
+ +



. ,
. ,
We will examine how to evaluate this sum using the primes and prime powers
with the aid of the Riemann-Weil formula [13]
Since we have chosen the potential function
( ) f x
from the Bohr-sommerfeld
conditions, then it is likely that the density of states of our Hamiltonian is related
to a sum over the primes or other the Zeta function (square) zeros.
2. Riemann-Weil formula and the density of states for our
Hamiltonian:
The Riemann-Weil trace formula is given by [13]
1
( ) 1 ' 1
( ) 2 (0) ln 2 (ln ) ( )
2 2 4 2
n
i n is
h h g g n dsh s
n

| ` | `
+ +

. , . ,


(5)
Here,
0
1
( ) ( ) cos( ) ( )
2
g k dxh x kx g k

h(x) and g(x) are test functions which

form a Fourier transform pair and
ln
( )
0 otherwise
k
p n p
n


'

is the Mangoldt
function., see [2]
If we use the test function
( )
2 2
( , ) h r x x r
inside (5) we obtain
3
( ) ( )
2 2
1
( ) ln
cos ln
4 2
' 1 1 ' 1 1 2 2
4 2 8 4 2 8 4
n
n
x x n
x x n
i i
x x
x x
i i
x x x

| ` | `
+ +

| ` | `
. , . ,
+ + + +


. , . ,

(6)
Now if we use the property
( )
( ) ( )
2 2
2
x r x r
x r
x

+ +

and
0 x
, formula
(6) can be made a bit simpler
( ) ( )
0 0
1 1 1 ' 1 ln
2 2 2 2 2
' 1 1 ' 1 1 1 1
4 2 4 4 2 4 2 2
n n
n n
x x ix ix
x x i i
i i x x







| ` | `
+ + + +

. , . ,
| ` | ` | ` | `
+ + + + + +


. , . , . , . ,

(7)
Inside (6) and (7) we have used the expression for the logarithmic derivative
(zeta regularization)
ln
1
( ) ' 1
2
ix n
reg
n
n
e ix
n

| `
+

. ,

and if we take the real part

of this expression then
( )
1
( ) ' 1
cos ln e
2
reg
n
n
x n ix
n

| `
+

. ,

.
If we take the integral inside (6) with respect to
2
x

2
1
x
D

we get
( )
1 1 1 1 ( )
( ) arg 1 arg
2 2
n
n
E
N E H E E i E i E



| ` | `
+ + + +

. , . ,

(8)
0
1 1 1
( ) arg ln ln ...
4 2 2 2 2 8 48 !
n
x x x x
x i e
e x n

| ` | `
+ + +

. , . ,

(9)
And
2 2
E x p
, here p is the momentum of the particle, so the Riemann-Weil
trace formula tells us that the zeros are somehow the quantizied value of the
momentum of the particle inside the potential
( ) ( ) f x f x

Since the square of the momentum is the Energy , the square of the Riemann
zeros will be the Energies of the system.
For our potential we have that
2
1
2
0
( )
( )
n
n
n
H x
f x
x

so if we use the Riemann-

Weil trace formula again (valid for x >0 , and analytic continued to x <0 by the
4
functional equation
( ) ( ) f x f x
)
( )
1
0
2
1
2 1 ' 1 ( )
( ) ln ln
4 4 2 4 1 2
x
n
x
dr ir n
f x J x n
x n
x r

| `
| `
+ +

+ . , . ,

(10)
To prove the last term inside (10) we have used the representation for the
zeroeth order Bessel function in the form
( )
0
2 2
0
1 cos( )
2
x
J ux
dt ut
x t

[1] .
Also ,in order to get finite results we must truncate the second sum over the
prime numbers inside (10)
( )
1
2
0 1
1
2
1 1 ( )
arg ln
2 2
n
d n
i x J x n
n
dx

| `
+

. ,

From the Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization conditions we know that
1
2
1
1
2
( ) ( )
d
f x n x
dx

so if we take the fractional derivative again

1
1
2
2
1
0
2
1 ( )
( ) ( )
n
n
d f x
x x
dx

. The density of states of the Hamiltonian

depends only on the fractional derivative of the inverse of the potential .
To prove this we need the indentity
( )
( )
1
2
0 1
2
cos ax
d
J a x
x
dx


( )
( )
2
0 2
0
( 1)
2
!
n
n
n
x
J x
n

| `

. ,

( )
( )
2 1
0
cos
( 1)
2 !
n
n
n
x
x
x n

(11)
We can prove (11) by using the Taylor expansion of the 2 functions and then
applying the property of the half derivative operator for power series
( )
1
1
2
2
1
2
1
1
2
n
n n
d x
x
n
dx
+

| `
+

. ,
, so we have proved that the density of states of our
Hamiltonian defined in (2) is just the Riemann-Weil explicit formula in a
distributional framework so
1
1
2
1
2
( )
( )
2
f x d
x
dx

, this proof is immediate if we take

the half derivative inside (10)
1
2
1
0 2
( ) 1 ( )
(1/ 2)
x
d f x d dtf t
dx x t
dx

and use (11) , then

there can not be zeros outside the critical line, since both densities (for the
5
zeros and for the energies) agree.
o Proof that for big x ,
x
the potencial
( ) ( ) f x f x
is positive:
The smooth part (the dominant term as
x
) of the Eigenvalue staircase is ,
formula (8) and (9)
( ) log
2 2
E E
N E
e
| `

. ,

0
1
!
n
e
n

, if we use the expression for

the logarithm
1
log( )
x
x

as
0
and apply the half derivative expression,
then the following holds
0
( )
/ 2
2 2 / 2
1
4 ( )
( )
2
smooth
e A x B
f x

2
2 2
2
( ) 4
( )
smooth
x B
f x e
A

| `
+

. ,
(12)
The constants are
3
2
( )
1
2
A

+
| `

. ,

| `
+

. ,
and
3
2 2
B

| `


. ,

The second expression inside (12) is the asymptotic of
( ) f x
as
x
, for this
potential , the energies are (in terms of the Lambert function [1] )
( )
2 2
1
2 1
4
( ) ( )
smooth
n smooth
n
E f n N E
W ne

1
1
( )
( )
!
n
n
n
n
W x x
n

(13)
Expression (12) is always POSITIVE, the oscillatory part of the staircase given
by
1 1
arg
2
i x

| `
+

. ,
is much smaller than
( ) log
2 2
E E
N E
e
| `

. ,
and can not
make
2
2 2
2
( ) 4
( )
smooth
x B
f x e
A

| `
+

. ,
NEGATIVE for any big x , for x small
this potential would be also bounded below
( ) 0
smooth
f x
. Then the first term
inside the expansion of the potential is given by
2
2 2
2
( ) 4
( )
smooth
x B
f x e
A

| `
+

. ,
It is very important to get a positive potential (at least for big x) , so the Energies
are real (eigenvalues of an Hermitian operator) and also positive
| | | | | 0
n n n n n n n
E H p p V +
(14)
6
3. Zeta regularized determinant of the Hamiltonian and
( ) s
:
For a one dimensional system the semiclassical WKB Theta function is defined
as an integral over the phase space
( , ) x p

0 t >

2
1
( ) ( )
0 0 0
1 1 ( )
( )
2
tp tf x tf x tr
WKB
t f r
t dx dpe dxe dre
dr t

(15)
Here
( ) f x
is the potential (even potential in our case) , if we introduce our
potential obtained via the WKB method
2
1
2
0
( )
( )
n
n
n
H x
f x
x

and use the

property of the integral
0
ax
dx
e
a x

, then the term-by-term integration gives

2
0
( )
n
t
WKB
n
t e

the sum again is over ALL the zeros of the Riemann zeta
function on the upper complex half plane.
Once we have the Theta function
2
0
( )
n
t
WKB
n
t e

we may take the Mellin

transform of it
2
1
0
( )
s tE
WKB
dt t t e

and get
( )
2 2
0
1
( )
s
n
n
s
E

,
2
2
1
2
E s
| `


. ,
The last sum is just the spectral Zeta function taken over the Riemann zeros ,
from this Zeta function
( )
2 2
0
1
( , )
H s
n
n
E s
E

we can define the Zeta-

regularized determinant [5] in the form
( )
( )
0 0
det
exp ( , ) ( , 0)
P s P s
H E
d d
s E s
det H ds ds


+
| `
+

. ,
(16)
But from the formula
2
1
2
0
( )
( )
n
n
n
H x
f x
x

the Energies of the Hamiltonian are

the square of the Zeros of the Riemann Xi-function in this case the Zeta
regularized determinant for our Hamiltonian is just the Hadamard product for the
Riemann Xi-function
7
1
det (1 )
( ) (1 ) 4
1
1 (0) (0)
det
4
H s s
s s s
H



| `
+

| `
. ,


| `
. ,
+

. ,

(17)
( )
( )
( )
2
0
2 0
0
( )
1/ 2
det
1
det( ) 1/ 2
n
n
n
n
n
n
E
i E
H E
E
H E

+
| `


. ,

(18)
Equations (17) and (18) are NOT conjectures, they are a proof that the
Riemann Hypothesis is true, from (17) adn (18) we can also compute the
density of states for our Hamiltonian in the form
( ) ( )
2
0
1 1 1
( ) argdet arg
2 2
n
n
d
E E E i H i i E
dE E

| `
+ + +

. ,

(19)
The last identity can be proved with the aid of the Hadamard product for the
Riemann Xi-function on the critical line
2
0
1
n
n
E

| `

. ,

and the Shokhotskys

formula for the Dirac delta function
1 1
( ) x m
x i

| `


+
. ,

0
3. Failures of the Wu-Sprung model for Riemann zeros:
Unlike the model of Wu and Sprung, we have considered also the oscillatory
part of the Riemann Eigenvalue Staircase
1 1
arg
2
i E

| `
+

. ,
, which satisfy
Boltes semiclassical law [4] in one dimension
Wu and Sprung [15] considered only the smooth part of teh Eigenvalue
staircase in the limit
1 T >>

ln ( )
2 2
T T
N T
e
| `

. ,
, but in order to get a
Hamiltonian whose Energies are the positive imaginary part of the Riemann
Zeros, their starting point is the Harmonic oscillator [15]
Unlike the normal quantum mechanical oscillator whose functional determinant
gives the Gamma function
1
2
1
( )
n
s
s n

| `
+

. ,

the product taken ONLY over the

8
positive imaginary part of the zeros (even if it converges)
0
1
n
n
s

| `
+

. ,

has no
meaning at all , at least in terms of Quantum mechanics.
Also the Wu-Sprung model doesnt obey Weyls law in one dimension
( )
/ 2
( )
d
smooth
N E O E
, however in our case , the Hamiltonian (8) with the Smooth
part of the Eigenvalue staircase
( ) log
2 2
E E
N E
e
| `

. ,
, satisfies a Weyls law
with
1
2
d

+
and the spectral determinant (quotient)
0
( )
1
(0)
n
n
E E
E

| `

. ,

2
n n
E
is proportional to
1
2
i E
| `
+

. ,
Another problem is that Wu and Spurng did not prove that the density of states
of the Wu-Sprung Hamiltonian is precisely the distributional Riemann-Weil trace
defined inside (6) and (7).
4. Numerical evaluation of the Energies for the Hamiltonian with
potential
1
2
1
1
2
1 1
( ) arg
2
d
f x i x
dx

| `
+

. ,
We need to evaluate the half-derivative inside the inverse of the potential
For numerical purposes we can use the Grunwald-Letnikov formula [13] with
an step
0.01
and
1
2
q

( )
1
2
1
0
2
( ) ( ) 1 ( 1)
( 1) ( )
( 1) ( 1)
q
n
q q
n
g x d g x q
g x q n
n q n
dx

+
+
+ +

(20)
In order to evaluate
1 1
arg
2
i x

| `
+

. ,
for big x , we have used the Riemann-
Siegel formula [10]
k x
( )
( )
( )
1/ 4
1
cos ( ) ln
1 1
( ) 2
2
U k
i k
n
k k n
Z k ik e O k
k n

| ` | `
+ +

. , . ,

(21)
The functions inside (A.3) are
( )
2
k
u k

]
]
,
[ ]
x
is the floor function and
9
1 1
( ) arg ln ln ...
4 2 2 2 2 8 48
T T T T
T i
e T

| ` | `
+ + +

. , . ,
(22)
TABLE1 : comparison between the Riemann Zeros (square) from the tables of Odlyzko [11]
and the Numerical values of the energies for our Hamiltonian operator (2) with
1
2
1
1
2
1 1
( ) arg
2
d
f x i x
dx

| `
+

. ,
, to obtain numerically the potential we have used formula
(34) to evaluate the fractional derivative and the Riemann-Siegel formula (21) to evaluate
1 1
( ) arg
2
S x ix

| `
+

. ,
n Zeros (square) Energies
0 199.7897 198.7889
1 441.9244 441.9242
2 625.5401 625.5405
3 925.6684 925.6686
4 1084.7142 1084.7141
5 1412.7149 1412.7148
6 1674.3400 1674.3399
7 1877.2289 1877.2289
8 2304.4896 2304.4895
9 6363.8591 6363.8590
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11