Finite-dimensional approximation and non-squeezing for the cubic nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation on $\R^2$

We prove symplectic non-squeezing (in the sense of Gromov) for the cubic nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation on $\R^2$. This is the first symplectic non-squeezing result for a Hamiltonian PDE in infinite volume. As the underlying symplectic Hilbert space is $L^2(\R^2)$, this requires working with initial data in this space. This space also happens to be scaling-critical for this equation. Thus, we also obtain the first unconditional symplectic non-squeezing result in such a critical setting. More generally, we show that solutions of this PDE can be approximated by a finite-dimensional Hamiltonian system, despite the wealth of non-compact symmetries: scaling, translation, and Galilei boosts. This approximation result holds uniformly on bounded sets of initial data. Complementing this approximation result, we show that all solutions of the finite-dimensional Hamiltonian system can be approximated by the full PDE. A key ingredient in these proofs is the development of a general methodology for obtaining uniform global space-time bounds for suitable Fourier truncations of dispersive PDE models.