Long range scattering and modified wave operators for the Maxwell-Schrödinger system. I: The case of vanishing asymptotic magnetic field (Q1416861)

The authors study the Maxwell-Schrödinger system in space dimension 3 in the Coulomb gauge. This system describes the evolution of a charged nonrelativistic quantum mechanical particle interacting with the classical electromagnetic field it generates. This system may be written in the following form \[ i\partial_t u = - \tfrac 12 (\nabla -iA)^2 u +g(u)u, \] \[ (\partial_t^2 -\Delta)A = ({\mathbf 1}-\nabla\Delta^{-1}\nabla) \operatorname{Im} \overline{u}(\nabla - iA)u, \] where \(g(u) = (4\pi| x| )^{-1}\star | u| ^2\). In the special case of vanishing asymptotic magnetic field, the existence of modified wave operators is proved with no size restriction on the Schrödinger data. The asymptotic behaviour in time of solutions in the range of the wave operators is determined. These results improve \textit{Y. Tsutsumi}'s investigation [Commun. Math. Phys. 151, 543--576 (1993; Zbl 0766.35061)], where smallness conditions on the Schrödinger asymptotic data were required. The method consists in partially solving the Maxwell equation for the potentials, substituting the result into the Schrödinger equation, which becomes both nonlinear and nonlocal in time.