Floquet theory: Exponential perturbative treatment (Q2736739)

A celebrated Floquet theorem states that the solution \(Z(t)\) to the linear matrix differential equation NEWLINE\[NEWLINE \frac{dZ}{dt}=A(t)Z(t), \qquad Z(0)=I, NEWLINE\]NEWLINE with a complex \(n\times n\)-matrix \(A\) whose entries are integrable periodic functions of \(t\) with period \(T,\) has the form NEWLINE\[NEWLINE Z(t)=P(t)\exp(tF), NEWLINE\]NEWLINE where \(F\) and \(P\) are \(n\times n\)-matrices, \(F\) is constant and \(P\) is \(T\)-periodic. On the other hand, it is well known that there is no general method that allows either the matrix \(P(t)\) or the eigenvalues of \(F\) to be computed.NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEThe purpose of the paper is to use the so-called Magnus expansion to solve for \(P(t)\) and \(F.\) A recursive scheme preserving additional geometric properties of solutions is proposed to obtain the terms in the new expansion, and an explicit sufficient condition for its convergence is given. An example from quantum mechanics is considered, and a comparison with the exact solution is done to illustrate the feasibility of the method.