Adaptive Time Propagation for Time-Dependent Schrödinger Equations

Abstract

We compare adaptive time integrators for the numerical solution of linear Schrödinger equations where the Hamiltonian explicitly depends on time. The approximation methods considered are splitting methods, where the time variable is split off and advanced separately, and commutator-free Magnus-type methods. The time-steps are chosen adaptively based on asymptotically correct estimators of the local error in both cases. It is found that splitting methods are more efficient when the Hamiltonian naturally suggests a separation into kinetic and potential part, whereas Magnus-type integrators excel when the structure of the problem only allows to advance the time variable separately.