Schrödinger Equation in Moving Domains

Abstract

We consider the Schr\''odinger equation \begin{equation}\label{eq_abstract} i\partial_t u(t)=-\Delta u(t)~~~~~\text{ on }\Omega(t) \tag{$\ast$} \end{equation}where $\Omega(t)\subset\mathbb{R}$ is a moving domain depending on the time $t\in [0,T]$. The aim of this work is to provide a meaning to the solutions of such an equation. We use the existence of a bounded reference domain $\Omega_0$ and a specific family of unitary maps $h^\sharp(t): L^2(\Omega(t),\mathbb{C})\longrightarrow L^2(\Omega_0,\mathbb{C})$. We show that the conjugation by $h^\sharp$ provides a newequation of the form \begin{equation}\label{eq_abstract2}i\partial_t v= h^\sharp(t)H(t)h_\sharp(t) v~~~~~\text{ on }\Omega_0\tag{$\ast\ast$} \end{equation} where $h_\sharp=(h^\sharp)^{-1}$. The Hamiltonian $H(t)$ is a magnetic Laplacian operator of the form$$H(t)=-(div+iA)\circ(grad+iA)-|A|^2$$where $A$ is an explicit magnetic potential depending on the deformation of the domain $\Omega(t)$. The formulation \eqref{eq_abstract2} enables to ensure the existence of weak and strong solutions of the initial problem \eqref{eq_abstract} on $\Omega(t)$ endowed with Dirichlet boundary conditions. In addition, it also indicates that the correct Neumann type boundary conditions for \eqref{eq_abstract} are not the homogeneous but the magnetic ones$$\partial_\nu u(t)+i\langle\nu| A\rangle u(t)=0,$$even though \eqref{eq_abstract} has no magnetic term. All the previous results are also studied in presence of diffusion coefficients as well as magnetic and electric potentials. Finally, we prove some associated byproducts as an adiabatic result for slow deformations of the domain and atime-dependent version of the so-called ``Moser's trick''. We use this outcome in order to simplify Equation \eqref{eq_abstract2} and to guarantee the well-posedness for slightly less regular deformations of $\Omega(t)$.