Comment on ‘ Application of nonlinear deformation algebra to a physical system with Pöschl - Teller potential ’

We comment on a recent paper by Chen, Liu, and Ge (J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 31 (1998) 6473), wherein a nonlinear deformation of su(1,1) involving two deforming functions is realized in the exactly solvable quantum-mechanical problem with Pöschl-Teller potential, and is used to derive the well-known su(1,1) spectrum-generating algebra of this problem. We show that one of the defining relations of the nonlinear algebra, presented by the authors, is only valid in the limiting case of an infinite square well, and we determine the correct relation in the general case. We also use it to establish the correct link with su(1,1), as well as to provide an algebraic derivation of the eigenfunction normalization constant.