Relativistic Ermakov–Milne–Pinney Systems and First Integrals

The Ermakov–Milne–Pinney equation is ubiquitous in many areas of physics that have an explicit time-dependence, including quantum systems with time-dependent Hamiltonian, cosmology, time-dependent harmonic oscillators, accelerator dynamics, etc. The Eliezer and Gray physical interpretation of the Ermakov–Lewis invariant is applied as a guiding principle for the derivation of the special relativistic analog of the Ermakov–Milne–Pinney equation and associated first integral. The special relativistic extension of the Ray–Reid system and invariant is obtained. General properties of the relativistic Ermakov–Milne–Pinney are analyzed. The conservative case of the relativistic Ermakov–Milne–Pinney equation is described in terms of a pseudo-potential, reducing the problem to an effective Newtonian form. The non-relativistic limit is considered to be well. A relativistic nonlinear superposition law for relativistic Ermakov systems is identified. The generalized Ermakov–Milne–Pinney equation has additional nonlinearities, due to the relativistic effects.

Time-dependent metric for the two-dimensional, non-Hermitian coupled oscillator

We provide a time-dependent Dyson map and metric for the two-dimensional harmonic oscillator with a non-Hermitian ixy coupling term. This particular time-independent model exhibits spontaneously broken [Formula: see text]-symmetry and becomes unphysical in the broken regime, with the spectrum becoming partially complex. By introducing an explicit time dependence into the Dyson map, we provide a time-dependent metric that renders the model consistent across the unbroken and broken regimes.

A Riemann–Hilbert Problem Approach to Infinite Gap Hill's Operators and the Korteweg–de Vries Equation

We formulate the inverse spectral theory of infinite gap Hill’s operators with bounded periodic potentials as a Riemann–Hilbert problem on a typically infinite collection of spectral bands and gaps. We establish a uniqueness theorem for this Riemann–Hilbert problem, which provides a new route to establishing unique determination of periodic potentials from spectral data. As the potentials evolve according to the Korteweg–de Vries Equation (KdV) equation, we use integrability to derive an associated Riemann–Hilbert problem with explicit time dependence. Basic principles from the theory of Riemann–Hilbert problems yield a new characterization of spectra for periodic potentials in terms of the existence of a solution to a scalar Riemann–Hilbert problem, and we derive a similar condition on the spectrum for the temporal periodicity for an evolution under the KdV equation.

The Jacobi Energy Function

This chapter focuses on the Jacobi energy function, considering how the Lagrange formalism treats the energy of the system. This discussion leads nicely to conservation laws and symmetries, which are the focus of the next chapter. The Jacobi energy function associated with a Lagrangian is defined as a function on the tangent bundle. The chapter also discuss explicit vs implicit time dependence, and shows how time translational invariance ensures the generalised coordinates are inertial, meaning that the energy function is the total energy of the system. In addition, it examines the energy function using non-inertial coordinates and explicit time dependence.

Generalisation of Levine's prediction for the distribution of freezing temperatures of droplets: a general singular model for ice nucleation

Models without an explicit time dependence, called singular models, are widely used for fitting the distribution of temperatures at which water droplets freeze. In 1950 Levine developed the original singular model. His key assumption was that each droplet contained many nucleation sites, and that freezing occurred due to the nucleation site with the highest freezing temperature. The fact that freezing occurs due to the maximum value out of a large number of nucleation temperatures, means that we can apply the results of what is called extreme-value statistics. This is the statistics of the extreme, i.e. maximum or minimum, value of a large number of random variables. Here we use the results of extreme-value statistics to show that we can generalise Levine's model to produce the most general singular model possible. We show that when a singular model is a good approximation, the distribution of freezing temperatures should always be given by what is called the generalised extreme-value distribution. In addition, we also show that the distribution of freezing temperatures for droplets of one size, can be used to make predictions for the scaling of the median nucleation temperature with droplet size, and vice versa.

Generalisation of Levine's prediction for the distribution of freezing temperatures of droplets: a general singular model for ice nucleation

Models without an explicit time dependence, called singular models, are widely used for fitting the distribution of temperatures at which water droplets freeze. In 1950 Levine developed the original singular model. His key assumption was that each droplet contained many nucleation sites, and that freezing occurred due to the nucleation site with the highest freezing temperature. The fact that freezing occurs due to the maximum value out of large number of nucleation temperatures, means that we can apply the results of what is called extreme-value statistics. This is the statistics of the extreme, i.e., maximum or minimum, value of a large number of random variables. Here we use the results of extreme-value statistics to show that we can generalise Levine's model to produce the most general singular model possible. We show that when a singular model is a good approximation, the distribution of freezing temperatures should always be given by what is called the generalised extreme-value distribution. In addition, we also show that the distribution of freezing temperatures for droplets of one size, can be used to make predictions for the scaling of the median nucleation temperature with droplet size, and vice versa.

RESTORING TIME DEPENDENCE INTO QUANTUM COSMOLOGY

Mini superspace cosmology treats the scale factor a(t), the lapse function n(t) and an optional dilation field ϕ(t) as canonical variables. While pre-fixing n(t) means losing the Hamiltonian constraint, pre-fixing a(t) is serendipitously harmless at this level. This suggests an alternative to the Hartle–Hawking approach, where the pre-fixed a(t) and its derivatives are treated as explicit functions of time, leaving n(t) and a now mandatory ϕ(t) to serve as canonical variables. The naive gauge pre-fix a(t) = const . is clearly forbidden, causing evolution to freeze altogether; so pre-fixing the scale factor, say a(t) = t, necessarily introduces explicit time dependence into the Lagrangian. Invoking Dirac's prescription for dealing with constraints, we construct the corresponding mini superspace time-dependent total Hamiltonian and calculate the Dirac brackets, characterized by {n, ϕ}D ≠ 0, which are promoted to commutation relations in the quantum theory.