Wei-Norman equations for a unitary evolution

The Wei-Norman technique allows one to express the solution of a system of linear non-autonomous differential equations in terms of product of exponentials with time-dependent exponents being solutions of a system of nonlinear differential equations. We show that in the unitary case, i.e. when the solution of the linear system is given by a unitary evolution operator, the nonlinear system, by an appropriate choice of ordering, can be reduced to a hierarchy of matrix Riccati equations. To this end, we consider a general linear non-autonomous dynamical system on the special linear group SL(N, C). The unitary case, of particular significance for quantum optimal control problems, is then obtained by restriction to anti-Hermitian generators. We also point to the connections of the obtained results with the theory of the so-called Lie systems.