English

Fourth-order leapfrog algorithms for numerical time evolution of classical and quantum systems

Computational Physics 2020-07-13 v1

Abstract

Chau et al. [New J. Phys. 20, 073003 (2018)] presented a new and straight-forward derivation of a fourth-order approximation 'U7U_7' of the time-evolution operator and hinted at its potential value as a symplectic integrator. U7U_7 is based on the Suzuki-Trotter split-operator method and leads to an algorithm for numerical time propagation that is superior to established methods. We benchmark the performance of U7U_7 and other algorithms, including a Runge-Kutta method and another recently developed Suzuki-Trotter-based scheme, that are exact up to fourth order in the evolution parameter, against various classical and quantum systems. We find U7U_7 to deliver any given target accuracy with the lowest computational cost, across all systems and algorithms tested here. This study is accompanied by open-source numerical software that we hope will prove valuable in the classroom.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2007.05308,
  title  = {Fourth-order leapfrog algorithms for numerical time evolution of classical and quantum systems},
  author = {Jun Hao Hue and Ege Eren and Shao Hen Chiew and Jonathan Wei Zhong Lau and Leo Chang and Thanh Tri Chau and Martin-Isbjörn Trappe and Berthold-Georg Englert},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2007.05308},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

14 pages, 6 figures; for accompanying open-source program, see https://github.com/huehou/Fourth-Order-Leapfrog

R2 v1 2026-06-23T17:00:55.116Z