Deformed Harmonic Oscillators for Metal Clusters and Balian-Bloch Theory

The predictions for the shell structure of metal clusters of the three-dimensional q-deformed harmonic oscillator (3D q-HO), utilizing techniques of quantum groups and having the symmetry u q (3) ⊃ so q (3), are compared to the restrictions imposed by the periodic orbit theory of Balian and Bloch, of electrons moving in a spherical cavity. It is shown that agreement between the predictions of the two models is established through the introduction of an additional term to the Hamiltonian of the 3D q-HO, which does not influence the predictions for supershells. This term preserves the u q (3) ⊃ so q (3) symmetry, while in addition it can be derived through a variational procedure, analogous to the one leading from the usual harmonic oscillator to the Morse oscillator by introducing the concept of the Variable Frequency Oscillator (VFO).