Deformation Quantization: Twenty Years After

We first review the historical developments, both in physics and in mathematics, that preceded (and in some sense provided the background of) deformation quantization. Then we describe the birth of the latter theory and its evolution in the past twenty years, insisting on the main conceptual developments and keeping here as much as possible on the physical side. For the physical part the accent is put on its relations to, and relevance for, "conventional" physics. For the mathematical part we concentrate on the questions of existence and equivalence, including most recent developments for general Poisson manifolds; we touch also noncommutative geometry and index theorems, and relations with group theory, including quantum groups. An extensive (though very incomplete) bibliography is appended and includes background mathematical literature.Comment: 39 pages; to be published with AIP Press in Proceedings of the 1998 Lodz conference "Particles, Fields and Gravitation". LaTeX (compatibility mode) with aipproc styl

Geometric Numerical Integration

The subject of this workshop was numerical methods that preserve geometric properties of the flow of an ordinary or partial differential equation. This was complemented by the question as to how structure preservation affects the long-time behaviour of numerical methods

Challenges in Optimal Control of Nonlinear PDE-Systems

The workshop focussed on various aspects of optimal control problems for systems of nonlinear partial differential equations. In particular, discussions around keynote presentations in the areas of optimal control of nonlinear/non-smooth systems, optimal control of systems involving nonlocal operators, shape and topology optimization, feedback control and stabilization, sparse control, and associated numerical analysis as well as design and analysis of solution algorithms were promoted. Moreover, also aspects of control of fluid structure interaction problems as well as problems arising in the optimal control of quantum systems were considered

Isospectral algorithms, Toeplitz matrices and orthogonal polynomials

An isospectral algorithm is one which manipulates a matrix without changing its spectrum. In this thesis we study three interrelated examples of isospectral algorithms, all pertaining to Toeplitz matrices in some fashion, and one directly involving orthogonal polynomials. The first set of algorithms we study come from discretising a continuous isospectral flow designed to converge to a symmetric Toeplitz matrix with prescribed eigenvalues. We analyse constrained, isospectral gradient flow approaches and an isospectral flow studied by Chu in 1993. The second set of algorithms compute the spectral measure of a Jacobi operator, which is the weight function for the associated orthogonal polynomials and can include a singular part. The connection coefficients matrix, which converts between different bases of orthogonal polynomials, is shown to be a useful new tool in the spectral theory of Jacobi operators. When the Jacobi operator is a finite rank perturbation of Toeplitz, here called pert-Toeplitz, the connection coefficients matrix produces an explicit, computable formula for the spectral measure. Generalisation to trace class perturbations is also considered. The third algorithm is the infinite dimensional QL algorithm. In contrast to the finite dimensional case in which the QL and QR algorithms are equivalent, we find that the QL factorisations do not always exist, but that it is possible, at least in the case of pert-Toeplitz Jacobi operators, to implement shifts to generate rapid convergence of the top left entry to an eigenvalue. A fascinating novelty here is that the infinite dimensional matrices are computed in their entirety and stored in tailor made data structures. Lastly, the connection coefficients matrix and the orthogonal transformations computed in the QL iterations can be combined to transform these pert-Toeplitz Jacobi operators isospectrally to a canonical form. This allows us to implement a functional calculus for pert-Toeplitz Jacobi operators.UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grant EP/H023348/1

Theory of robust quantum many-body scars in long-range interacting systems

Quantum many-body scars (QMBS) are exceptional energy eigenstates of quantum many-body systems associated with violations of thermalization for special non-equilibrium initial states. Their various systematic constructions require fine-tuning of local Hamiltonian parameters. In this work we demonstrate that the setting of long-range interacting quantum spin systems generically hosts robust QMBS. We analyze spectral properties upon raising the power-law decay exponent $\alpha$ of spin-spin interactions from the solvable permutationally-symmetric limit $\alpha=0$. First, we numerically establish that despite spectral signatures of chaos appear for infinitesimal $\alpha$, the towers of $\alpha=0$ energy eigenstates with large collective spin are smoothly deformed as $\alpha$ is increased, and exhibit characteristic QMBS features. To elucidate the nature and fate of these states in larger systems, we introduce an analytical approach based on mapping the spin Hamiltonian onto a relativistic quantum rotor non-linearly coupled to an extensive set of bosonic modes. We exactly solve for the eigenstates of this interacting impurity model, and show their self-consistent localization in large-spin sectors of the original Hamiltonian for $0<\alpha<d$. Our theory unveils the stability mechanism of such QMBS for arbitrary system size and predicts instances of its breakdown e.g. near dynamical critical points or in presence of semiclassical chaos, which we verify numerically in long-range quantum Ising chains. As a byproduct, we find a predictive criterion for presence or absence of heating under periodic driving for $0<\alpha<d$, beyond existing Floquet-prethermalization theorems. Broader perspectives of this work range from independent applications of the technical toolbox developed here to informing experimental routes to metrologically useful multipartite entanglement.Comment: 25+13 pages, 15+3 figure