Time evolution kernels: uniform asymptotic expansions

Abstract

For a wide class of self-adjoint Schrödinger Hamiltonians, a detailed description of the time evolution kernel is obtained. In a setting of a d-dimensional Euclidean space without boundaries, the Schrödinger Hamiltonian H is the sum of the negative Laplacian plus a real-valued local potential v(x). The class of potentials studied is the family of bounded and continuous functions that are formed from the Fourier transforms of complex bounded measures. These potentials are suitable for the N-body problem, since they do not necessarily decrease as ‖x‖→∞. An asymptotic expansion in the complex parameter z, around z=0, is derived for the family of kernels Uz(x,y) corresponding to the analytic semigroup {e−zH:Re z>0}, which is uniform in the coordinate variables x and y. The asymptotic expansion has a simple semiclassical interpretation. Furthermore, an explicit bound for the remainder term in the asymptotic expansion is found. The expansion and the remainder term bound continue to the time axis boundary z=it/ℏ (t≠0) of the analytic semigroup domain.