Paper detail

Observability for Schrödinger equations with quadratic Hamiltonians

We consider time dependent harmonic oscillators and construct a parametrix to the corresponding Schrödinger equation using Gaussian wavepackets. This parametrix of Gaussian wavepackets is precise and tractable. Using this parametrix we prove $L^2$ and $L^2-L^{\infty}$ observability estimates on unbounded domains $ω$ for a restricted class of initial data. This data includes a class of compactly supported piecewise $C^1$ functions which have been extended from characteristic functions. Initial data of this form which has the bulk of its mass away from $ω^c=Ω$, a connected bounded domain, is observable, but data centered over $Ω$ must be very nearly a single Gaussian to be observable. We also give counterexamples to established principles for the simple harmonic oscillator in the case of certain time dependent harmonic oscillators.