Gross-Pitaevskii Equation as the Mean Field Limit of Weakly Coupled Bosons

Abstract

We consider the dynamics of $N$ boson systems interacting through a pair potential $N^{-1} V_a(x_i-x_j)$ where $V_a (x) = a^{-3} V (x/a)$. We denote the solution to the $N$-particle Schrödinger equation by $ψ_{N, t}$. Recall that the Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) equation is a nonlinear Schrödinger equation and the GP hierarchy is an infinite BBGKY hierarchy of equations so that if $u_t$ solves the GP equation, then the family of $k$-particle density matrices $\{\otimes_k u_t, k\ge 1 \}$ solves the GP hierarchy. Under the assumption that $a = N^{-\eps}$ for $0 < \eps < 3/5$, we prove that as $N\to \infty$ the limit points of the $k$-particle density matrices of $ψ_{N,t}$ are solutions of the GP hierarchy with the coupling constant in the nonlinear term of the GP equation given by $\int V(x) dx$. The uniqueness of the solutions to this hierarchy remains an open question.