Magnus-based geometric integrators for dynamical systems with time-dependent potentials

Resumen

The present thesis addresses the numerical integration of Hamiltonian systems with explicitly time-dependent potentials. These problems are common in mathematical physics because they come from quantum, classical and celestial mechanics. The goal of the thesis is to construct integrators for several import ant non-autonomous problems: the Schrödinger equation, which is the cornerstone of quantum mechanics; the Hill and the wave equations, that describe oscillating systems; the Kepler problem with time-variant mass. Chapter 1 describes the motivation and the aims of the work in the historical context of numerical integration. In Chapter 2 essential concepts and some fundamental tools used throughout the thesis are introduced. The design of the proposed integrators is based on the composition and splitting methods and the Magnus expansion. In Chapter 3, the former is described. Their main idea is to recombine some simpler integrators to obtain the solution. The salient concept of order conditions is described in that chapter. Chapter 4 summarises Lie algebras and the Magnus expansion ¿ algebraic tools that help to express the solution of time-dependent differential equations. The linear Schrödinger equation with time-dependent potential is considered in Chapter 5. Given its particular structure, new, Magnus-based quasi-commutator-free integrators are build. Their efficiency is shown in numerical experiments with the Walker-Preston model of a molecule in an electromagnetic field. In Chapter 6, Magnus-splitting methods for the wave and the Hill equations are designed. Their performance is demonstrated in numerical experiments with various oscillatory systems: the Mathieu equation, the matrix Hill eq., the wave and the Klein-Gordon-Fock eq. Chapter 7 shows how the algebraic approach and the Magnus expansion can be generalised to non-linear problems. The example used is the Kepler problem with decreasing mass. The thesis is concluded by Chapter 8, in which the results are reviewed and possible directions of future work are outlined.