A fundamental problem regarding the Dirac quantization of a free particle on an N − 1 (N ≥ 2) curved hypersurface embedded in N flat space is the impossibility to give the same form of the curvature-induced quantum potential, the geometric potential as commonly called, as that given by the Schrödinger equation method where the particle moves in a region confined by a thin-layer sandwiching the surface. This problem is resolved by means of a previously proposed scheme that hypothesizes a simultaneous quantization of positions, momenta, and Hamiltonian, among which the operator-ordering-free section is identified and is then found sufficient to lead to the expected form of geometric potential.

For a particle moves on a 2D surface f (x) = 0 embedded in 3D Euclidean space, the geometric momentum and potential are simultaneously admissible within the Dirac canonical quantization scheme for constrained motion. In our approach, not the full scheme but the symmetries indicated

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It is pointed out that the current form of the extrinsic equation of motion for a particle constrained to remain on a hypersurface is in fact a half-finished version; for it is established without regard to the fact that the particle can never depart from the geodesics on the surface. Once this fact is taken into consideration, the equation takes the same form as that for the centripetal force law, provided that the symbols are re-interpreted so that the law is applicable for higher dimensions. The controversial issue of constructing operator forms of these equations is addressed, and our studies show the quantization of constrained system based on the extrinsic equation of motion is preferable.

In classical mechanics, a nonrelativistic particle constrained on an N − 1 curved hypersurface embedded in N flat space experiences the centripetal force only. In quantum mechanics, the situation is totally different for the presence of the geometric potential. We demonstrate that the motion of the quantum particle is "driven" by not only the the centripetal force, but also a curvature induced force proportional to the Laplacian of the mean curvature, which is fundamental in the interface physics, causing curvature driven interface evolution.