Time-integration of Gaussian variational approximation for the magnetic Schr\"odinger equation

Abstract

In the present paper we consider the semiclassical magnetic Schr\"odinger equation, which describes the dynamics of charged particles under the influence of a electro-magnetic field. The solution of the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation is approximated by a single Gaussian wave packet via the time-dependent Dirac--Frenkel variational principle. For the approximation we use ordinary differential equations of motion for the parameters of the variational solution and extend the second-order Boris algorithm for classical mechanics to the quantum mechanical case. In addition, we propose a modified version of the classical fourth order Runge--Kutta method. Numerical experiments explore parameter convergence and geometric properties. Moreover, we benchmark against the analytical solution of the Penning trap.