Modified Energy for Split-Step Methods Applied to the Linear Schrödinger Equation

Abstract

We consider the linear Schrödinger equation and its discretization by split-step methods where the part corresponding to the Laplace operator is approximated by the midpoint rule. We show that the numerical solution coincides with the exact solution of a modified partial differential equation at each time step. This shows the existence of a modified energy preserved by the numerical scheme. This energy is close to the exact energy if the numerical solution is smooth. As a consequence, we give uniform regularity estimates for the numerical solution over arbitrarily long time.