Supersymmetric variational energies of 3d confined potentials

Within the approach of supersymmetric quantum mechanics associated with the variational method a recipe to construct the superpotential of three-dimensional confined potentials in general is proposed. To illustrate the construction, the energies of the harmonic oscillator and the Hulthen potential, both confined in three dimensions are evaluated. Comparison with the corresponding results of other approximative and exact numerical results is presented. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.