An Optimal Transport View of Schrödinger's Equation

http://dx.doi.org/10.4153/CMB-2011-121-9
Canad. Math. Bull. 55(2012), 858-869

  Published:2011-06-15
 Printed: Dec 2012

We show that the Schrödinger equation is a lift of Newton's third law of motion $\nabla^\mathcal W_{\dot \mu} \dot \mu = -\nabla^\mathcal W F(\mu)$ on the space of probability measures, where derivatives are taken with respect to the Wasserstein Riemannian metric. Here the potential $\mu \to F(\mu)$ is the sum of the total classical potential energy $\langle V,\mu\rangle$ of the extended system and its Fisher information $ \frac {\hbar^2} 8 \int |\nabla \ln \mu |^2 \,d\mu$. The precise relation is established via a well-known (Madelung) transform which is shown to be a symplectic submersion of the standard symplectic structure of complex valued functions into the canonical symplectic space over the Wasserstein space. All computations are conducted in the framework of Otto's formal Riemannian calculus for optimal transportation of probability measures.