Solving for the low-rank tensor components of a scattering wave function

Abstract

Atomic and molecular breakup reactions, such as multiple-ionisation, are described by a driven Schr\"odinger equation. This equation is equivalent to a high-dimensional Helmholtz equation and it has solutions that are outgoing waves, emerging from the target. We show that these waves can be described by a low-rank approximation. For 2D problems this it a matrix product of two low-rank matrices, for 3D problems it is a low-rank tensor decomposition. We propose an iterative method that solves, in an alternating way, for these low-rank components of the scattered wave. We illustrate the method with examples in 2D and 3D.