Adaptive kernel methods to simulate quantum phase space flow

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

A technique for simulating quantum dynamics in phase space i discussed. It makes use of ensembles of classical trajectories to approximate the distribution functions and their derivatives by implementing Adaptive Kernel Density Estimation. It is found to improve the accuracy and stability of the simulations compared to more conventional particle methods. Formulation of the method in higher dimensions is straightforward. Complete analytical description of physical systems exist only for the most simple ideal cases. The vast majority of physical problems require the solution of approximate equations most fre- quently by using numerical calculations. To this end, much effort has been devoted to the devel- opment of suitable techniques to be used in computer simulations. The increasing computational power makes possible the description of more complicated, that is, less ideal systems allowing for more precise predictions of their properties as well as for a better understanding of the underlying phenomena. Among the wealth of numerical approaches to solve dynamical equations by means of discretization, particle methods have gained attention in the last few decades as a conceptu- ally appealing alternative. Conventional numerical solvers rely on a regular discretization of the independent variables to facilitate the evaluation of derivatives to a given order of accuracy. As a consequence, a mesh needs to be defined as the base of the simulations, parts of which remain empty at any given simulation time even with the most sophisticated mesh schemes. The cen- tral idea of particle methods consists of representing functions by sets of particles conveniently located and weighted such that the function is appropriately sampled by the particles. Evolution of the functions is then accomplished by an equivalent evolution of the particles. This meshless or Lagrangian type of discretization has some intrinsic computational efficiency advantages because there is no wasted space. The advantage, however, comes at the expense of having to evaluate derivatives of functions on unstructured arrays of sampling points. The issues about convergence and stability of the resulting algorithms have been the subject of active and fruitfull research. Currently there are some well established techniques to solve dynamical equations with particle methods. Our interest is to provide an alternative ingredient to further improve the performance of numerical solutions of dynamical problems of physical relevance. In the present work we discuss, in the context of particle methods, the implementation of a technique for representing functions and derivatives with adaptive parameters. Adaptiveness require the parameters to be automatically ad- justed to optimal values according to the location of the particles. As shown below, the proposed scheme is conceptually simple and has been tested in a number of different situations. In some simple test models the present work focuses on quantum dynamics, previously treated with more