We study Schroedinger's equation with a potential moving along a Brownian motion path. We prove a RAGE-type theorem and Strichartz estimates for the solution on average.
We study a non-linear Schroedinger equation with a Hartree-type nonlinearity and a localized random time-dependent external potential. Sharp dispersive estimates for the linear Schroedinger equation with a random time-dependent potential enable us to also treat the case of small semi-linear perturbations. In both the linear and the nonlinear instances, we prove that, on average, energy remains bounded and solutions scatter.
This paper proves endpoint Strichartz estimates for the linear Schroedinger equation in $R^3$, with a time-dependent potential that keeps a constant profile and is subject to a rough motion, which need not be differentiable and may be large in norm. The potential is also subjected to a time-dependent rescaling, with a non-differentiable dilation parameter. We use the Strichartz estimates to prove the non-dispersion of bound states, when the path is small in norm, as well as boundedness of energy. We also include a sample nonlinear application of the linear results.
We prove long time Anderson localization for nonlinear random Schroedinger equation in $\ell^2$ by making a Birkoff normal form type transform to creat an energy barrier where there is essentially no mode propagation. One of the new features is that this transform is in a small neighborhood enabling us to treat "rough" data, where there are no moment conditions. The formulation of the present result is inspired by the RAGE theorem.
We consider discrete one-dimensional random Schroedinger operators with decaying matrix-valued, independent potentials. We show that if the l^2-norm of this potential has finite expectation value with respect to the product measure then almost surely the Schroedinger operator has an interval of purely absolutely continuous (ac) spectrum. We apply this result to Schroedinger operators on a strip. This work provides a new proof and generalizes a result obtained by Delyon, Simon, and Souillard.
This review is an extended version of my mini course at the Etats de la recherche: Operateurs de Schroedinger aleatoires at the Universite Paris 13 in June 2002, a summer school organized by Frederic Klopp. These lecture notes try to give some of the basics of random Schroedinger operators. They are meant for nonspecialists and require only minor previous knowledge about functional analysis and probability theory. Nevertheless this survey includes complete proofs of Lifshitz tails and Anderson localization.
We consider operators with random potentials on graphs, such as the lattice version of the random Schroedinger operator. The main result is a general bound on the probabilities of simultaneous occurrence of eigenvalues in specified distinct intervals, with the corresponding eigenfunctions being separately localized within prescribed regions. The bound generalizes the Wegner estimate on the density of states. The analysis proceeds through a new multiparameter spectral averaging principle.
In this paper, we consider stochastic Schroedinger equations with two-dimensional white noise. Such equations are used to describe the evolution of an open quantum system undergoing a process of continuous measurement. Representations are obtained for solutions of such equations using a generalization to the stochastic case of the classical construction of Feynman path integrals over trajectories in the phase space.
We study the macroscopic scaling and weak coupling limit for a random Schroedinger equation on Z^3. We prove that the Wigner transforms of a large class of "macroscopic" solutions converge in r-th mean to solutions of a linear Boltzmann equation, for any finite value of r in R_+. This extends previous results where convergence in expectation was established.
We investigate the implication of the non-linear and non-local multi-particle Schroedinger-Newton equation for the motion of the mass centre of an extended multi-particle object, giving self-contained and comprehensible derivations. In particular, we discuss two opposite limiting cases. In the first case, the width of the centre-of-mass wave packet is assumed much larger than the actual extent of the object, in the second case it is assumed much smaller. Both cases result in non-linear deviations from ordinary free Schroedinger evolution for the centre of mass. On a general conceptual level we…
In this paper we investigate the dynamics of solitons occurring in the nonlinear Schroedinger equation when a parameter h->0. We prove that under suitable assumptions, the the soliton approximately follows the dynamics of a point particle, namely, the motion of its barycenter $q_h(t)$ satisfies the equation $ddot{q}_h(t)+\nabla V(q_h(t))=H_h(t)$ where $\sup_{t\in R} |H_h(t)| -> 0$ as h->0.
As part of condensed-matter physics, the field of Anderson localization concerns the study of conductance of electrons in a random medium. We summarize and explain the results obtained in "A new numerical approach to Anderson (de)localization" from a physics perspective. Further, we discover a relationship with the so-called Thouless criterion - a dimensionless scaling parameter often used as the sole indicator whether or not the system exhibits Anderson localization.
We consider a Schroedinger operator with random potential distributed according to a Poisson process. We show that expectations of matrix elements of the resolvent as well as the density of states can be approximated to arbitrary precision in powers of the coupling constant. The expansion coefficients are given in terms of expectations obtained by Neumann expanding the potential around the free Laplacian. One can control these expansion coefficients in the infinite volume limit. We show that for this limit the boundary value as the spectral parameter approaches the real axis exists as well. Ou…
We consider time-dependent Schroedinger equations in one dimension with double well potential and an external nonlinear perturbation. If the initial state belongs to the eigenspace spanned by the eigenvectors associated to the two lowest eigenvalues then, in the semiclassical limit, we show that the reduction of the time-dependent equation to a 2-mode equation gives the dominant term of the solution with a precise estimate of the error. By means of this stability result we are able to prove the destruction of the beating motion for large enough nonlinearity.
We obtain lower and upper bounds on the heat kernel and Green functions of the Schroedinger operator in a random Gaussian magnetic field and a fixed scalar potential. We apply stochastic Feynman-Kac representation, diamagnetic upper bounds and the Jensen inequality for the lower bound. We show that if the covariance of the electromagnetic (vector) potential is increasing at large distances then the lower bound is decreasing exponentially fast for large distances and a large time.
We survey some aspects of the theory of the integrated density of states (IDS) of random Schroedinger operators. The first part motivates the problem and introduces the relevant models as well as quantities of interest. The proof of the existence of this interesting quantity, the IDS, is discussed in the second section. One central topic of this survey is the asymptotic behavior of the integrated density of states at the boundary of the spectrum. In particular, we are interested in Lifshitz tails and the occurrence of a classical and a quantum regime. In the last section we discuss regularity …
We consider Schroedinger operators with a random potential of alloy type on infinite metric graphs which obey certain uniformity conditions. For single site potentials of fixed sign we prove that the random Schroedinger operator restricted to a finite volume subgraph obeys a Wegner estimate which is linear in the volume and reproduces the modulus of continuity of the single site distribution. This improves and unifies earlier results for alloy type models on metric graphs. We discuss applications of Wegner estimates to bounds of the modulus of continuity of the integrated density of states of …
We apply a recently developed approach (Liaw 2013) to study the existence of extended states for the three dimensional discrete random Schroedinger operator at small disorder. The conclusion of delocalization at small disorder agrees with other numerical and experimental observations. Further the work furnishes a verification of the numerical approach and its implementation. Not being based on scaling theory, this method eliminates problems due to boundary conditions, common to previous numerical methods in the field. At the same time, as with any numerical experiment, one cannot exclude finit…
We will consider cross products of finite graphs with a class of trees that have arbitrarily but finitely long line segments, such as the Fibonacci tree. Such cross products are called tree-strips. We prove that for small disorder random Schrödinger operators on such tree-strips have purely absolutely continuous spectrum in a certain set.
A tree-strip of finite cone type is the product of a tree of finite cone type with a finite set. We consider random Schrödinger operators on these tree strips, similar to the Anderson model. We prove that for small disorder the spectrum is almost surely, purely, absolutely continuous in a certain set.
The Nonlinear Schroedinger Equation (NLSE) with a random potential is motivated by experiments in optics and in atom optics and is a paradigm for the competition between the randomness and nonlinearity. The analysis of the NLSE with a random (Anderson like) potential has been done at various levels of control: numerical, analytical and rigorous. Yet, this model equation presents us with a highly inconclusive and often contradictory picture. We will describe the main recent results obtained in this field and propose a list of specific problems to focus on, that we hope will enable to resolve th…
We show that the Schroedinger equation is a lift of Newton's law of motion on the space of probability measures, where derivatives are taken w.r.t. the Wasserstein Riemannian metric. Here the potential is the sum of the total classical potential energy of the extended system and its Fisher information. The precise relation is established via a well known ('Madelung') transform which is shown to be a symplectic submersion of the standard symplectic structure of complex valued functions into the canonical symplectic space over the Wasserstein space. All computations are conducted in the framewor…
We study Schroedinger operators with random edge weights and their expected spectral measures $μ_H$ near zero. We prove that the measure exhibits a spike of the form $μ_H(-\varepsilon,\varepsilon) \sim \frac{C}{| \log\varepsilon|^2}$ (first observed by Dyson), without assuming independence or any regularity of edge weights. We also identify the limiting local eigenvalue distribution, which is different from Poisson and the usual random matrix statistics. We then use the result to compute Novikov-Shubin invariants for various groups, including lamplighter groups and lattices in the Lie group So…
In this article we continue our analysis of Schroedinger operators with a random potential using scattering theory. In particular the theory of Krein's spectral shift function leads to an alternative construction of the density of states in arbitrary dimensions. For arbitrary dimension we show existence of the spectral shift density, which is defined as the bulk limit of the spectral shift function per unit interaction volume. This density equals the difference of the density of states for the free and the interaction theory. This extends the results previously obtained by the authors in one d…
We study a class of Schrödinger operators on $\Z^2$ with a random potential decaying as $|x|^{-\dex}$, $0<\dex\leq\frac12$, in the limit of small disorder strength $λ$. For the critical exponent $\dex=\frac12$, we prove that the localization length of eigenfunctions is bounded below by $2^{λ^{-\frac14+η}}$, while for $0<\dex<\frac12$, the lower bound is $λ^{-\frac{2-η}{1-2\dex}}$, for any $η>0$. These estimates "interpolate" between the lower bound $λ^{-2+η}$ due to recent work of Schlag-Shubin-Wolff for $\dex=0$, and pure a.c. spectrum for $\dex>\frac12$ demonstrated in recent work of Bourgai…
We study Schroedinger operators with a random potential of alloy type. The single site potentials are allowed to change sign. For a certain class of them we prove a Wegner estimate. This is a key ingredient in an existence proof of pure point spectrum of the considered random Schroedinger operators. Our estimate is valid for all bounded energy intervals and all space dimensions and implies the existence of the density of states.
The time evolution of several interacting Ginzburg-Landau vortices according to an equation of Schroedinger type is approximated by motion on a finite-dimensional manifold. That manifold is defined as an unstable manifold of an auxiliary dynamical system, namely the gradient flow of the Ginzburg-Landau energy functional. For two vortices the relevant unstable manifold is constructed numerically and the induced dynamics is computed. The resulting model provides a complete picture of the vortex motion for arbitrary vortex separation, including well-separated and nearly coincident vortices.
Methods from scattering theory are introduced to analyze random Schroedinger operators in one dimension by applying a volume cutoff to the potential. The key ingredient is the Lifshitz-Krein spectral shift function, which is related to the scattering phase by the theorem of Birman and Krein. The spectral shift density is defined as the "thermodynamic limit" of the spectral shift function per unit length of the interaction region. This density is shown to be equal to the difference of the densities of states for the free and the interacting Hamiltonians. Based on this construction, we give a ne…
We prove a localization theorem for continuous ergodic Schrödinger operators $ H_ω:= H_0 + V_ω$, where the random potential $ V_ω$ is a nonnegative Anderson-type perturbation of the periodic operator $ H_0$. We consider a lower spectral band edge of $ σ(H_0) $, say $ E= 0 $, at a gap which is preserved by the perturbation $ V_ω$. Assuming that all Floquet eigenvalues of $ H_0$, which reach the spectral edge 0 as a minimum, have there a positive definite Hessian, we conclude that there exists an interval $ I $ containing 0 such that $ H_ω$ has only pure point spectrum in $ I $ for almost all $ …
Path integral representations for generalized Schrödinger operators obtained under a class of Bernstein functions of the Laplacian are established. The one-to-one correspondence of Bernstein functions with Lévy subordinators is used, thereby the role of Brownian motion entering the standard Feynman-Kac formula is taken here by subordinated Brownian motion. As specific examples, fractional and relativistic Schrödinger operators with magnetic field and spin are covered. Results on self-adjointness of these operators are obtained under conditions allowing for singular magnetic fields and singular…
The subject of this work are random Schroedinger operators on regular rooted tree graphs $\T$ with stochastically homogeneous disorder. The operators are of the form $H_λ(ω) = T + U + λV(ω)$ acting in $\ell^2(\T)$, with $T $ the adjacency matrix, $U$ a radially periodic potential, and $V(ω)$ a random potential. This includes the only class of homogeneously random operators for which it was proven that the spectrum of $H_λ(ω)$ exhibits an absolutely continuous (ac) component; a results established by A. Klein for weak disorder, in case U=0 and $V(ω)$ given by iid random variables on $\T$. Our m…
We study localization effects of disorder on the spectral and dynamical properties of Schroedinger operators with random potentials. The new results include exponentially decaying bounds on the transition amplitude and related projection kernels, including in the mean. These are derived through the analysis of fractional moments of the resolvent, which are finite due to the resonance-diffusing effects of the disorder. The main difficulty which has up to now prevented an extension of this method to the continuum can be traced to the lack of a uniform bound on the Lifshitz-Krein spectral shift a…
The Bethe Strip of width $m$ is the cartesian product $\B\times\{1,...,m\}$, where $\B$ is the Bethe lattice (Cayley tree). We prove that Anderson models on the Bethe strip have "extended states" for small disorder. More precisely, we consider Anderson-like Hamiltonians $\;H_λ=\frac12 Δ\otimes 1 + 1 \otimes A + λ\Vv$ on a Bethe strip with connectivity $K \geq 2$, where $A$ is an $m\times m$ symmetric matrix, $\Vv$ is a random matrix potential, and $λ$ is the disorder parameter. Given any closed interval $I\subset (-\sqrt{K}+a_{\mathrm{max}},\sqrt{K}+a_{\mathrm{min}})$, where $a_{\mathrm{min}}$…
We consider a two-dimensional integrable Hamiltonian system with a vector and scalar potential in quantum mechanics. Contrary to the case of a pure scalar potential, the existence of a second order integral of motion does not guarantee the separation of variables in the Schroedinger equation. We introduce the concept of "quasiseparation of variables" and show that in many cases it allows us to reduce the calculation of the energy spectrum and wave functions to linear algebra.
Integrable quantum mechanical systems for neutral particles with spin $\frac12$ and nontrivial dipole momentum are classified. It is demonstrated that such systems give rise to new exactly solvable problems of quantum mechanics with clear physical content. Solutions for three of them are given in explicit form. The related symmetry algebras and superalgebras are discussed. The presented classification is restricted to two-dimensional systems which admit matrix integrals of motion linear in momenta.
We study spectra of alloy-type random Schrödinger operators on metric graphs. For finite edge subsets of general graphs we prove a Wegner estimate which is linear in the volume (i.e. the number of edges) and the length of the considered energy interval. The single site potential of the alloy-type model needs to have fixed sign, but the considered metric graph does not need to have a periodic structure. The second result we obtain is an exhaustion construction of the integrated density of states for ergodic random Schrödinger operators on metric graphs with a $\ZZ^ν$-structure. For certain mode…
Electronic properties of amorphous or non-crystalline disordered solids are often modelled by one-particle Schroedinger operators with random potentials which are ergodic with respect to the full group of Euclidean translations. We give a short, reasonably self-contained survey of rigorous results on such operators, where we allow for the presence of a constant magnetic field. We compile robust properties of the integrated density of states like its self-averaging, uniqueness and leading high-energy growth. Results on its leading low-energy fall-off, that is, on its Lifshits tail, are then dis…
We study a random Schroedinger operator, the Laplacian with random Dirac delta potentials on a torus T^d_L = R^d/LZ^d, in the thermodynamic limit L\to\infty, for dimension d=2. The potentials are located on a randomly distorted lattice Z^2+ω, where the displacements are i.i.d. random variables sampled from a compactly supported probability density. We prove that, if the disorder is sufficiently weak, there exists a certain energy threshold E_0>0 above which exponential localization of the eigenfunctions must break down. In fact we can rule out any decay faster than a certain polynomial one. Ou…
We represent low dimensional quantum mechanical Hamiltonians by moderately sized finite matrices that reproduce the lowest O(10) boundstate energies and wave functions to machine precision. The method extends also to Hamiltonians that are neither Hermitian nor PT symmetric and thus allows to investigate whether or not the spectra in such cases are still real. Furthermore, the approach is especially useful for problems in which a position-dependent mass is adopted, for example in effective-mass models in solid-state physics or in the approximate treatment of coupled nuclear motion in molecular …
We construct one soliton solutions for the nonlinear Schroedinger equation with variable quadratic Hamiltonians in a unified form by taking advantage of a complete (super) integrability of generalized harmonic oscillators. The soliton wave evolution in external fields with variable quadratic potentials is totally determined by the linear problem, like motion of a classical particle with acceleration, and the (self-similar) soliton shape is due to a subtle balance between the linear Hamiltonian (dispersion and potential) and nonlinearity in the Schroedinger equation by the standards of soliton …
By suitably extending a Feynman-Kac formula of Simon [Canadian Math. Soc. Conf. Proc, 28 (2000), 317-321], we study one-parameter semigroups generated by (the negative of) rather general Schroedinger operators, which may be unbounded from below and include a magnetic vector potential. In particular, a common domain of essential self-adjointness for such a semigroup is specified. Moreover, each member of the semigroup is proven to be a maximal Carleman operator with a continuous integral kernel given by a Brownian-bridge expectation. The results are used to show that the spectral projections of…
We study the motion of solitary-wave solutions of a family of focusing generalized nonlinear Schroedinger equations with a confining, slowly varying external potential, $V(x)$. A Lyapunov-Schmidt decomposition of the solution combined with energy estimates allows us to control the motion of the solitary wave over a long, but finite, time interval. We show that the center of mass of the solitary wave follows a trajectory close to that of a Newtonian point particle in the external potential $V(x)$ over a long time interval.
E. Schroedinger proposed the equation to find the statistical property of a quantum particle on a finite time interval. It is called "Schroedinger's functional equation". Given probability distributions of a particle at initial and terminal times, it determines the joint distribution of a quantum particle at initial and terminal times so that a particle is Markovian. S. Bernstein generalized Schroedinger's idea and introduced the so-called Bernstein processes which are also called reciprocal processes or one-dimensional Markov random fields. The theory of stochastic differential equation for S…
An exactly solvable position-dependent mass Schrödinger equation in two dimensions, depicting a particle moving in a semi-infinite layer, is re-examined in the light of recent theories describing superintegrable two-dimensional systems with integrals of motion that are quadratic functions of the momenta. To get the energy spectrum a quadratic algebra approach is used together with a realization in terms of deformed parafermionic oscillator operators. In this process, the importance of supplementing algebraic considerations with a proper treatment of boundary conditions for selecting physical w…
We consider a two dimensional magnetic Schroedinger operator on a square lattice with a spatially stationary random magnetic field. We prove Anderson localization near the spectral edges. We use a new approach to establish a Wegner estimate that does not rely on the monotonicity of the energy on the random parameters.
It is known that a one-dimensional quantum particle is localized when subjected to an arbitrarily weak random potential. It is conjectured that localization also occurs for an arbitrarily weak potential generated from the nonlinear skew-shift dynamics: $v_n=2\cos\left(\binom{n}{2}ω+ny+x\right)$ with $ω$ an irrational number. Recently, Han, Schlag, and the second author derived a finite-size criterion in the case when $ω$ is the golden mean, which allows to derive the positivity of the infinite-volume Lyapunov exponent from three conditions imposed at a fixed, finite scale. Here we numerically …
We construct quasi-periodic solutions to the lattice nonlinear random Schroedinger equation on a set of potentials of positive measure via using a Lyapunov-Schmidt decomposition and a multiscale Newton scheme.
The integrated density of states of a Schroedinger operator with random potential given by a homogeneous Gaussian field whose covariance function is continuous, compactly supported and has positive mean, is locally uniformly Lipschitz-continuous. This is proven using a Wegner estimate.
At the lower edge of the energy continuum the birth of an isolated quantum bound state is studied as caused by an infinitesimally small change of the interaction. In our model a single, asymptotically free massive quantum particle is assumed moving along a discretized real line of coordinates, $x \in \mathbb{Z}$. The motion is assumed controlled by a weakly nonlocal 2J-parametric external potential which is non-Hermitian but PT-symmetric. Mathematically, the bound states are then reinterpreted as Sturmians, i.e., the bound-state energy is treated as a variable real parameter while the value of…
We develop a new approach for the Anderson localization problem. The implementation of this method yields strong numerical evidence leading to a (surprising to many) conjecture: The two dimensional discrete random Schroedinger operator with small disorder allows states that are dynamically delocalized with positive probability. This approach is based on a recent result by Abakumov-Liaw-Poltoratski which is rooted in the study of spectral behavior under rank-one perturbations, and states that every non-zero vector is almost surely cyclic for the singular part of the operator. The numerical work…
We analytically study rogue-wave (RW) solutions and rational solitons of an integrable fifth-order nonlinear Schrödinger (FONLS) equation with three free parameters. It includes, as particular cases, the usual NLS, Hirota, and Lakshmanan-Porsezian-Daniel (LPD) equations. We present continuous-wave (CW) solutions and conditions for their modulation instability in the framework of this model. Applying the Darboux transformation to the CW input, novel first- and second-order RW solutions of the FONLS equation are analytically found. In particular, trajectories of motion of peaks and depressions o…
We study the spectrum of random ergodic Schroedinger-type operators in the weak disorder regime. We give upper and lower bounds on how much the spectrum expands at its bottom for very general perturbations. The background operator is assumed to be a periodic elliptic differential operator on R^d, not necessarily of second order.
We construct an explicit solution of the Cauchy initial value problem for the time-dependent Schroedinger equation for a charged particle with a spin moving in a uniform magnetic field and a perpendicular electric field varying with time. The corresponding Green function (propagator) is given in terms of elementary functions and certain integrals of the fields with a characteristic function, which should be found as an analytic or numerical solution of the equation of motion for the classical oscillator with a time-dependent frequency. We discuss a particular solution of a related nonlinear Sc…
We prove spectral and dynamical localization on a cubic-lattice quantum graph with a random potential. We use multiscale analysis and show how to obtain the necessary estimates in analogy to the well-studied case of random Schroedinger operators.
We study a random Schroedinger operator, the Laplacian with N independently uniformly distributed random delta potentials on flat tori T^d_L = R^d/LZ^d, d = 2, 3, where L > 0 is large. We determine a condition in terms of the size of the torus L, the density of the potentials ρ= N/L^d and the energy of the eigenfunction E such any such eigenfunctions will with nonzero probability be uniformly distributed on the entire torus. We remark that the equidistribution we prove here is still consistent with a localized regime, where the localization length is much larger than the size of the torus. In …
We review recent and give some new results on the spectral properties of Schroedinger operators with a random potential of alloy type. Our point of interest is the so called Wegner estimate in the case where the single site potentials change sign. The indefinitness of the single site potential poses certain difficulties for the proof of the Wegner estimate which are still not fully understood. The Wegner estimate is a key ingredient in an existence proof of pure point spectrum of the considered random Schroedinger operators. Under certain assumptions on the considered models additionally the e…
In this paper, we show the that the ground state energy of the one dimensional Discrete Random Schroedinger Operator with Bernoulli Potential is controlled asymptotically as the system size N goes to infinity by the random variable \ell_N, the length the longest consecutive sequence of sites on the lattice with potential equal to zero. Specifically, we will show that for almost every realization of the potential the ground state energy behaves asymptotically as $\frac{π^2}{\ell_N+1)^2}$ in the sense that the ratio of the quantities goes to one.
We study a nonlinear system of partial differential equations in which a complex field (the Higgs field) evolves according to a nonlinear Schroedinger equation, coupled to an electromagnetic field whose time evolution is determined by a Chern-Simons term in the action. In two space dimensions, the Chern-Simons dynamics is a Galileo invariant evolution for A, which is an interesting alternative to the Lorentz invariant Maxwell evolution, and is finding increasing numbers of applications in two dimensional condensed matter field theory. The system we study, introduced by Manton, is a special cas…