Modeling and Simulation

Laboratory exercise

A nonlinear oscillator

Exercise (Nonlinear oscillator for a complex field). Consider a field $\psi\in\mathbb{C}$ satisfying the equation \begin{equation} \label{eq:oscillator} i \frac{d\psi}{dt} = -\omega\psi + g |\psi|^2\psi. \end{equation} (a) Find analytically a solution of this equation when (i) $g=0$ and (ii) $g\neq 0$. [Hint. Note that $d|\psi|^2/dt=0$.]
(b) Show by explicit calculation that Eq. \eqref{eq:oscillator} can be written as \[ i \frac{d\psi}{dt} = \frac{\partial E}{\partial \psi^*} \] where star (*) denotes complex conjugation and $E$ is an energy function, \begin{equation} \label{eq:energy} E = \frac{g}{2} |\psi|^4 - \omega|\psi|^2. \end{equation} (c) Write explicitely the equation \begin{equation} \label{eq:dissipative} i \frac{d\psi}{dt} = (1-i) \frac{\partial E}{\partial \psi^*} \end{equation} and prove that $dE/dt \leq 0$.
(d) Write code to solve numerically Eq. \eqref{eq:dissipative} with arbitrary initial condition $\psi(t=0)=\psi_0$ and relate your result to the solution found in (a). [Hint. You may use Euler's method for numerical integration.]


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