High-Precision Computation and PSLQ Identification of Stokes Multipliers for Anharmonic Oscillators
This work provides exact constants for quantum anharmonic oscillators, offering a computational approach to discovering new transcendental numbers and connecting them to number theory.
The authors compute Stokes multipliers for anharmonic oscillators up to M=11 using high-precision arithmetic and PSLQ, discovering three new exact identities and confirming one known. They also find that the x^8 case likely yields a new transcendental number, with closed-form existence correlating with Euler's totient function.
We present a large-scale computational study combining arbitrary-precision arithmetic, sequence acceleration, and the PSLQ integer relation algorithm to discover exact closed-form expressions for fundamental constants arising in asymptotic analysis. We compute the Stokes multipliers C_M of the one-dimensional anharmonic oscillators H = p^2/2 + x^2/2 + g x^{2M} for M = 2, 3, ..., 11, extracting 17-30 significant digits from up to 1200 perturbation coefficients computed at 300-digit working precision. The computational pipeline consists of three stages: (i) Rayleigh-Schrodinger recursion in the harmonic oscillator basis, (ii) Richardson extrapolation of order 40-100 to accelerate convergence of ratio sequences, and (iii) PSLQ searches over bases of Gamma-function values and algebraic numbers. This pipeline discovers three new exact identities: C_3^2 pi^4 = 32, C_5^4 Gamma(1/4)^4 pi^5 = 2^{12} 3^2, and C_7^6 Gamma(1/3)^9 pi^6 = 2^{20} 3^3, in addition to confirming the known C_2^2 pi^3 = 6. Equally significant is a negative result: exhaustive PSLQ searches at 30-digit precision with coefficient bounds up to 2000 find no closed form for C_4, strongly suggesting the x^8 case introduces a genuinely new transcendental number. A number-theoretic pattern emerges: closed-form existence correlates with Euler's totient function phi(M-1)/2, which counts algebraically independent Gamma-function transcendentals at denominator M-1. We formulate conjectures connecting computational constant recognition to classical number theory, and provide all code and data for full reproducibility.