On the Schrödinger Equation for Time-Dependent Hamiltonians with a Constant Form Domain

We study two seminal approaches, developed by B. Simon and J. Kisyński, to the well-posedness of the Schrödinger equation with a time-dependent Hamiltonian. In both cases, the Hamiltonian is assumed to be semibounded from below and to have a constant form domain, but a possibly non-constant operator domain. The problem is addressed in the abstract setting, without assuming any specific functional expression for the Hamiltonian. The connection between the two approaches is the relation between sesquilinear forms and the bounded linear operators representing them. We provide a characterisation of the continuity and differentiability properties of form-valued and operator-valued functions, which enables an extensive comparison between the two approaches and their technical assumptions.

Asymmetric topological pumping in nonparaxial photonics

Topological photonics was initially inspired by the quantum-optical analogy between the Schrödinger equation for an electron wavefunction and the paraxial equation for a light beam. Here, we reveal an unexpected phenomenon in topological pumping observed in arrays of nonparaxial optical waveguides where the quantum-optical analogy becomes invalid. We predict theoretically and demonstrate experimentally an asymmetric topological pumping when the injected field transfers from one side of the waveguide array to the other side whereas the reverse process is unexpectedly forbidden. Our finding could open an avenue for exploring topological photonics that enables nontrivial topological phenomena and designs in photonics driven by nonparaxiality.

Stabilization of 1D solitons by fractional derivatives in systems with quintic nonlinearity

We study theoretically the properties of a soliton solution of the fractional Schrödinger equation with quintic nonlinearity. Under “fractional” we understand the Schrödinger equation, where ordinary Laplacian (second spatial derivative in 1D) is substituted by its fractional counterpart with Lévy index $$\alpha$$ α . We speculate that the latter substitution corresponds to phenomenological account for disorder in a system. Using analytical (variational and perturbative) and numerical arguments, we have shown that while in the case of Schrödinger equation with the ordinary Laplacian (corresponding to Lévy index $$\alpha =2$$ α = 2 ), the soliton is unstable, even infinitesimal difference $$\alpha$$ α from 2 immediately stabilizes the soliton texture. Our analytical and numerical investigations of $$\omega (N)$$ ω ( N ) dependence ($$\omega$$ ω is soliton frequency and N its mass) show (within the famous Vakhitov–Kolokolov criterion) the stability of our soliton texture in the fractional $$\alpha <2$$ α < 2 case. Direct numerical analysis of the linear stability problem of soliton texture also confirms this point. We show analytically and numerically that fractional Schrödinger equation with quintic nonlinearity admits the existence of (stable) soliton textures at $$2/3<\alpha <2$$ 2 / 3 < α < 2 , which is in accord with existing literature data. These results may be relevant to both Bose–Einstein condensates in cold atomic gases and optical solitons in the disordered media.