A Generalization of the Kepler Problem

Guowu Meng

Published 2005-09-02, updated 2008-03-14Version 6

We construct and analyze a generalization of the Kepler problem. These generalized Kepler problems are parameterized by a triple $(D, \kappa, \mu)$ where the dimension $D\ge 3$ is an integer, the curvature $\kappa$ is a real number, the magnetic charge $\mu$ is a half integer if $D$ is odd and is 0 or 1/2 if $D$ is even. The key to construct these generalized Kepler problems is the observation that the Young powers of the fundamental spinors on a punctured space with cylindrical metric are the right analogues of the Dirac monopoles.