The Dirac oscillator in the curved spacetime of a cloud of strings

Abstract In this paper, we determine the relativistic bound-state solutions for the Dirac oscillator (DO) in the curved spacetime of a cloud of strings in $$(3+1)$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>(</mml:mo> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> -dimensions, where such solutions are given by the four-component normalized Dirac spinor and by the relativistic energy spectrum. However, unlike literature, here, we work with the spacetime in two different forms/configurations, that is, both in its original form and in its modified form. To achieve our objective, we work with the curved DO in spherical coordinates, where we use the tetrad formalism. So, by defining a stationary ansatz for the spinor, we obtain two coupled first-order differential equations, and by substituting one equation into the other, we obtain a second-order differential equation. To analytically and exactly solve this differential equation, we use a change of function and of variable. From this, we obtain the well-known Whittaker equation, whose solution is the Whittaker function. Consequently, we obtain the energy spectrum, which is quantized in terms of the radial quantum number n and the angular quantum number $$\kappa $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>κ</mml:mi> </mml:math> , and explicitly depends on the angular frequency $$\omega $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>ω</mml:mi> </mml:math> (describes the DO), curvature parameter a (describes the cloud of strings), and on the effective rest mass $$m_{\text {eff}}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> <mml:mtext>eff</mml:mtext> </mml:msub> </mml:math> (describes the rest mass modified by the curvature of spacetime). Besides, we graphically analyze the behavior of the spectrum as a function of $$\omega $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>ω</mml:mi> </mml:math> and a for three different values of n and $$\kappa $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>κ</mml:mi> </mml:math> , as well as the behavior of the radial probability density for four different values of $$\kappa $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>κ</mml:mi> </mml:math> , $$\omega $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>ω</mml:mi> </mml:math> , and a (with $$n=0$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>n</mml:mi> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> ).