English

The Madelung transform as a momentum map

Symplectic Geometry 2016-04-15 v2 Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

The Madelung transform relates the non-linear Schr\"odinger equation and a compressible Euler equation known as the quantum hydrodynamical system. We prove that the Madelung transform is a momentum map associated with an action of the semidirect product group Diff(Rn)C(Rn)\mathrm{Diff}(\mathbb{R}^{n})\ltimes C^\infty(\mathbb{R}^{n}), which is the configuration space of compressible fluids, on the space Ψ\Psi of wave functions. In particular, we show that the Madelung transform is a Poisson map taking the natural Poisson bracket on Ψ\Psi to the compressible fluid Poisson bracket, and observe that the Madelung transform provides an example of "Clebsch variables" for the hydrodynamical system.

Cite

@article{arxiv.1512.04611,
  title  = {The Madelung transform as a momentum map},
  author = {Daniel Fusca},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1512.04611},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

10 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-22T12:09:49.388Z