Field moment expansion method for interacting bosonic systems

We introduce a numerical method and PYTHON package, CHiMES, that simulates quantum systems initially well approximated by mean field theory using a second order extension of the classical field approach. We call this the field moment expansion method. In this way, we can accurately approximate the evolution of first and second field moments beyond where the mean field theory breaks down. This allows us to estimate the quantum break time of a classical approximation without any calculations external to the theory. We investigate the accuracy of the field moment expansion using a number of well studied quantum test problems. Interacting bosonic systems similar to scalar field dark matter are chosen as test problems. We find that successful application of this method depends on two conditions: the quantum system must initially be well described by the classical theory, and the growth of the higher order moments must be hierarchical.