arXiv · 2512.20840
Computing nonlinear Schr\"odinger equations with Hermite functions beyond harmonic traps
Abstract
Hermite basis functions are a classical tool for the spatial discretisation of Schr\"odinger equations with harmonic potential. In this work, we prove that their favourable stability properties extend to Schr\"odinger equations without a trap: the free Schr\"odinger flow is stable in the weighted Sobolev spaces $\Sigma^k$ which govern the convergence of Hermite spectral methods. This makes the Hermite basis a natural discretisation for a larger class of nonlinear Schr\"odinger equations posed on the full space $\mathbb{R}^d$, avoiding artificial periodisation and the associated distortion of the dynamics incurred by domain truncation in Fourier methods. Within this framework we provide a rigorous fully discrete convergence analysis of a splitting method for the cubic nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation. In addition, by combining the Hermite basis with a gauge transform, we introduce a novel, fully explicit, unconditionally stable numerical method for the derivative nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation. Our theoretical results are supported with numerical examples across various nonlinearities and dimensions, which showcase the accuracy, stability and resulting efficiency of this Hermite basis approach.
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Valeria Banica, Georg Maierhofer, Katharina Schratz. 2025-12-23. Computing nonlinear Schr\"odinger equations with Hermite functions beyond harmonic traps. https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.20840
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