Multi-symplectic Runge-Kutta-Nyström methods for nonlinear Schrödinger equations with variable coefficients (Q2458605)

This paper is concerned with the numerical solution of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation \[ i \, \partial_x \psi + \alpha(t) \partial_{xx} \psi + \theta (t) V'( | \psi | ^2) \psi = 0,\quad (x,t) \in \mathbb R^2, \] where \( \psi = \psi (x,t)\), \( \alpha (t)\), \( \theta (t)\) are variable coefficients and \( V \) is a smooth real function, by means of multi-symplectic Runge-Kutta (RK) methods. Here the multi-symplecticity is obtained by combining symplectic RK Nyström methods in the spatial discretization with symplectic RK methods for first order equations in the time discretization. By introducing a uniform grid \( (x_j, t_k) \in\mathbb R^2 \) with \( x_j = j \Delta x\) and \( t_k = k \Delta t\), the authors study discrete versions of the conservation laws of (1) that are preserved under periodic or zero boundary conditions. The paper also includes the results of some numerical experiments with a quasi periodic solitary wave solution of (1) with \( V(u)= (1/2) u^2\) and suitable \( \alpha (t)\) and \( \theta (t)\) taking as time discretization the two stage fourth-order (RK) Gauss method combined with two RK Nyström three-stage fourth-order schemes where the first one is symplectic whereas the second one is not symplectic. The numerical results presented here show that the multi-symplectic scheme presents better conservation properties than the non symplectic one for the same step sizes.