In this thesis, a survey on pseudospectral methods for differential equations is presented. Properties of the classical orthogonal polynomials required in this context are reviewed. Differentiation matrices corresponding to Jacobi, Laguerre,and Hermite cases are constructed. A fairly detailed investigation is made for the Hermite spectral methods, which is applied to the Schr&ouml / dinger eigenvalue equation with several potentials. A discussion of the numerical results and comparison with other methods are then introduced to deduce the effciency of the method.

In this thesis, the properties of the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in low dimensions are reviewed. Three dimensional weakly interacting Bose systems are examined by the variational method. The effects of both the attractive and the repulsive interatomic forces are studied. Thomas-Fermi approximation is applied to find the ground state energy and the chemical potential. The occurrence of the BEC in low dimensional systems, is studied for ideal gases confined by both harmonic and power-law potentials. The properties of BEC in highly anisotropic trap are investigated and the conditions for reduced dimensionality are derived.

Neste trabalho, consideramos o problema autônomo {(-∆u+V(x)u=f(u) em R^N,@u∈H^1 (R^N)\\{0},)┤ em que N≥3, a função V é não periódica, radialmente simétrica e muda de sinal e a não linearidade f é assintoticamente linear. Além disso, impomos que V possui um limite positivo no infinito e que o espectro do operador L≔-∆+V tem ínfimo negativo. Sob essas condições, baseando-se em interações entre soluções transladadas do problema no infinito associado, é possível mostrar que tal problema satisfaz a geometria do teorema de linking clássico e garantir a existência de uma solução fraca não trivial. Em seguida, estabelecemos a existência de uma solução não trivial para o problema não autônomo {(-∆u+V(x)u=f(x,u) em R^N,@u∈H^1 (R^N)\\{0},)┤ sob hipóteses similares ao problema anterior, admitindo também que f(x,u)=f(|x|,u) dentre outras condições. Aplicamos novamente o teorema de linking para garantir que tal problema possui uma solução não trivial. Por fim, provamos que o problema quasilinear {(-∆u+V(x)u-u∆(u^2)=g(x,u) em R^3,@u∈H^1 (R^3)\\{0},)┤ em que o potencial V muda de sinal, podendo ser não limitado inferiormente, e a não linearidade g(x,u), quando |x|→∞, possui um certo tipo de monotonicidade, possui uma solução não trivial. A existência de tal solução é provada por meio de uma mudança de variável que transforma o problema num problema semilinear, nos permitindo, assim, empregar o teorema do passo da montanha combinado com o lema splitting. / In this work, we consider the autonomous problem {(-∆u+V(x)u=f(u) em R^N,@u∈H^1 (R^N)\\{0},)┤ where N≥3, V is a non-periodic radially symmetric function that changes sign and the nonlinearity f is asymptotically linear. Furthermore, we impose that V has a positive limit at infinity and the spectrum of the operator L≔-∆+V has negative infimum. Under these conditions, employing interaction between translated solutions of the problem at infinity, it is possible to show that such problem satisfies the geometry of the classical linking theorem and garantee the existence of a nontrivial weak solution. After that, we establish the existence of a nontrivial weak solution for the nonautonomous problem {(-∆u+V(x)u=f(x,u) em R^N,@u∈H^1 (R^N)\\{0},)┤ under similar hyphoteses to the previous problem, assuming also that f(x,u)=f(|x|,u) among others conditions. We apply again the classical linking theorem to ensure that such problem possesses a nontrivial weak solution. Finally, we prove that the quasilinear problem {(-∆u+V(x)u-u∆(u^2)=g(x,u) em R^3,@u∈H^1 (R^3)\\{0},)┤ where the potential V changes sign and may be unbounded from below and the nonlinearity g(x,u), as|x|→∞, has a kind of monotonicity, has a nontrivial weak solution. The existence of such solution is proved by means of a change of variables that makes the problem become a semilinear problem and hence allow us apply the mountain pass theorem combined with splitting lemma.

The one dimensional position dependent effective mass problem is studied by solving the Schr&ouml / dinger equation for some well known potentials, such as the deformed Hulthen, the Mie, the Kratzer, the pseudoharmonic, and the Morse potentials. Nikiforov-Uvarov method is used in the calculations to get energy eigenvalues and the corresponding wave functions exactly. By introducing a free parameter in the transformation of the wave function, the position dependent effective mass problem is reduced to the solution of the Schr&ouml / dinger equation for the constant mass case. At the same time, the deformed Hulthen potential is solved for the position dependent effective mass case by applying the method directly. The Morse potential is also solved for a mass distribution function, such that the solution can be reduced to the constant mass case.

The computation of Schrödinger equations in the semiclassical regime presents several enduring challenges due to the presence of the small semiclassical parameter. Standard approaches for solving these equations commence with spatial discretisation followed by exponentiation of the discretised Hamiltonian via exponential splittings. In this thesis we follow an alternative strategy${-}$we develop a new technique, called the symmetric Zassenhaus splitting procedure, which involves directly splitting the exponential of the undiscretised Hamiltonian. This technique allows us to design methods that are highly efficient in the semiclassical regime. Our analysis takes place in the Lie algebra generated by multiplicative operators and polynomials of the differential operator. This Lie algebra is completely characterised by Jordan polynomials in the differential operator, which constitute naturally symmetrised differential operators. Combined with the $\mathbb{Z}_2$-graded structure of this Lie algebra, the symmetry results in skew-Hermiticity of the exponents for Zassenhaus-style splittings, resulting in unitary evolution and numerical stability. The properties of commutator simplification and height reduction in these Lie algebras result in a highly effective form of $\textit{asymptotic splitting:} $exponential splittings where consecutive terms are scaled by increasing powers of the small semiclassical parameter. This leads to high accuracy methods whose costs grow quadratically with higher orders of accuracy. Time-dependent potentials are tackled by developing commutator-free Magnus expansions in our Lie algebra, which are subsequently split using the Zassenhaus algorithm. We present two approaches for developing arbitrarily high-order Magnus--Zassenhaus schemes${-}$one where the integrals are discretised using Gauss--Legendre quadrature at the outset and another where integrals are preserved throughout. These schemes feature high accuracy, allow large time steps, and the quadratic growth of their costs is found to be superior to traditional approaches such as Magnus--Lanczos methods and Yoshida splittings based on traditional Magnus expansions that feature nested commutators of matrices. An analysis of these operatorial splittings and expansions is carried out by characterising the highly oscillatory behaviour of the solution.