Probing phase-space noncommutativity through quantum mechanics and thermodynamics of free particles and quantum rotors

Novel quantization properties related to the state vectors and the energy spectrum of a two-dimensional system of free particles are obtained in the framework of noncommutative (NC) quantum mechanics (QM) supported by the Weyl-Wigner formalism. Besides reproducing the magnetic field aspect of a Zeeman-like effect, the momentum space NC parameter introduces mutual information properties quantified by the quantum purity related to the relevant coordinates of the corresponding Hilbert space. Supported by the QM in the phase-space, the thermodynamic limit is obtained, and the results are extended to three-dimensional systems. The noncommutativity imprints on the thermodynamic variables related to free particles are identified and, after introducing some suitable constraints to fix an axial symmetry, the analysis is extended to two- and- three dimensional quantum rotor systems, for which the quantization aspects and the deviation from standard QM results are verified. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.