Discrete Harmonic Oscillator: A Short Compendium of Formulas

Abstract

Since 2002, we have, in seven papers, studied the problem of the discrete harmonic oscillator, analytically, numerically, and graphically, and made progress on a number of fronts. We identified the natural frequency of oscillation of the dual incursive oscillators, studied the system bifurcation generated by incursive discretization, and the frequency dependent correlation between the resulting incursive oscillators. We also studied the synchronization of the discretizing time interval with the frequency of oscillation. From this analysis there emerged a nonlinear (or more precisely bilinear) formalism that is perfectly stable at all time scales, and fully conserves the total energy of the system. The formalism is applicable to the discrete harmonic oscillator specifically, and to discrete Hamiltonian systems in general. In retrospect the important themes and crucial steps can more easily be identified, and this is the purpose of this short note. In it we give, in a unified notation, a short compendium of the key formulas. This summary can serve as a guide for navigating through the seven papers, as well as a practical concise manual for using the formalism.