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Journal of Physics A Mathematical and General

A quantum statistical model of a three-dimensional linear rigid rotator in a bath of oscillators. I. Electrical susceptibility derivation

Patrick Navez, Mahouton Norbert Hounkonnou

Published Nov 21, 1995• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We consider a model Hamiltonian describing a rotor as fixed and weakly interacting with a bath of oscillators. From the basic principles of statistical mechanics, we derive the corresponding master equation for the rotor density matrix operator. Two relevant limit regimes, imposed by the weak-coupling assumptions, are then examined in detail. The first regime, corresponding to the classical Brownian limit, leads to the same electrical susceptibility formulae as deduced from the well known Fokker-Planck-Kramers equation for the rotational Brownian motion. The second regime appears as the Van Hove limit for the master equation in the interaction picture. Based on the application of a mathematical theorem by E.B. Davies (1976), this limit provides an elegant Van Vleck-Weisskopf lineform for the electrical susceptibility, explicitly expressed for the model considered here.

DOI
10.1088/0305-4470/28/22/011

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We consider a model Hamiltonian describing a rotor as fixed and weakly interacting with a bath of oscillators. From the basic principles of statistical mechanics, we derive the corresponding master equation for the rotor density matrix operator. Two relevant limit regimes, imposed by the weak-coupling assumptions, are then examined in detail. The first regime, corresponding to the classical Brownian limit, leads to the same electrical susceptibility formulae as deduced from the well known Fokker-Planck-Kramers equation for the rotational Brownian motion. The second regime appears as the Van Hove limit for the master equation in the interaction picture. Based on the application of a mathematical theorem by E.B. Davies (1976), this limit provides an elegant Van Vleck-Weisskopf lineform for the electrical susceptibility, explicitly expressed for the model considered here.
The theory of Brownian motion of a quantum oscillator is developed. The Brownian motion is described by a model Hamiltonian which is taken to be the one describing the interaction between this oscillator and a reservoir. Use is made of the master equation recently derived by the author, to obtain the equation of motion for the various reduced phase-space distribution functions that are obtained by mapping the density operator onto ccc-number functions. The equations of motion for the reduced phase-space distribution functions are found to be of the Fokker-Planck type. On transforming the Fokker-Planck equation to real variables, it is found to have the same form as the Fokker-Planck equation obtained by Wang and Uhlenbeck to describe the Brownian motion of a classical oscillator. The Fokker-Planck equation is solved for the conditional probability (Green's function) which is found to be in the form of a two-dimensional Gaussian distribution. This solution is then used to obtain various time-dependent quantum statistical properties of the oscillator. Next, the entropy for a quantum oscillator undergoing Brownian motion is calculated and we show that this system approaches equilibrium as $t\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$. Finally we show that in the weak-coupling limit the Fokker-Planck equation reduces to the one obtained by making the usual rotating-wave approximation.
We consider a rotationally invariant system-bath (RISB) model in three-dimensional space that is described by a linear rigid rotor independently coupled to three harmonic-oscillator baths through functions of the rotor's Euler angles. While this model has been developed to study the dielectric relaxation of a dipolar molecule in solvation as a problem of classical Debye relaxation, here we investigate it as a problem of open quantum dynamics. Specifically, the treatment presented here is carried out as an extension of a previous work [Y. Iwamoto and Y. Tanimura, J. Chem. Phys 149, 084110 (2018)], in which we studied a two-dimensional (2D) RISB model, to a three-dimensional (3D) RISB model. As in the 2D case, due to a difference in the energy discretization of the total Hamiltonian, the dynamics described by the 3D RISB model differ significantly from those described by the rotational Caldeira-Leggett model. To illustrate the characteristic features of the quantum 3D rotor system described by angular momentum and magnetic quantum numbers, we derive a quantum master equation (QME) and hierarchical equations of motion for the 3D RISB model in the high-temperature case. Using the QME, we compute linear and 2D rotational spectra defined by the linear and nonlinear response functions of the rotor dipole, respectively. The quantum transitions between the angular momentum states and magnetic states arising from polarized Stark fields as well as the system-bath interactions can be clearly observed in 2D rotational spectroscopy.
We consider a two-dimensional rigid rotator system coupled to a two-dimensional heat bath. The Caldeira-Leggett (Brownian) model for the rotator and the spin-Boson model have been used to describe such systems, but they do not possess rotational symmetry, and they cannot describe the discretized rotational bands in absorption and emission spectra that have been found experimentally. Here, to address this problem, we introduce a rotationally invariant system-bath (RISB) model that is described by two sets of harmonic-oscillator baths independently coupled to the rigid rotator as sine and cosine functions of the rotator angle. Due to a difference in the energy discretization of the total Hamiltonian, the dynamics described by the RISB model differ significantly from those described by the rotational Caldeira-Legget model, while both models reduce to the Langevin equation for a rotator in the classical limit. To demonstrate this point, we compute the rotational absorption spectrum defined by the linear response function of a rotator dipole. For this purpose, we derive a quantum master equation for the RISB model in the high-temperature Markovian case. We find that the spectral profiles of the calculated signals exhibit a transition from quantized rotational bands to a single peak after spectrum collapse. This is a significant finding because previous approaches cannot describe such phenomena in a unified manner.
We consider a two-dimensional rigid rotator system coupled to a two-dimensional heat bath. The Caldeira-Leggett (Brownian) model for the rotator and the spin-Boson model have been used to describe such systems, but they do not possess rotational symmetry, and they cannot describe the discretized rotational bands in absorption and emission spectra that have been found experimentally. Here, to address this problem, we introduce a rotationally invariant system-bath (RISB) model that is described by two sets of harmonic-oscillator baths independently coupled to the rigid rotator as sine and cosine functions of the rotator angle. Due to a difference in the energy discretization of the total Hamiltonian, the dynamics described by the RISB model differ significantly from those described by the rotational Caldeira-Legget model, while both models reduce to the Langevin equation for a rotator in the classical limit. To demonstrate this point, we compute the rotational absorption spectrum defined by the linear response function of a rotator dipole. For this purpose, we derive a quantum master equation for the RISB model in the high-temperature Markovian case. We find that the spectral profiles of the calculated signals exhibit a transition from quantized rotational bands to a single peak after spectrum collapse. This is a significant finding because previous approaches cannot describe such phenomena in a unified manner.
We consider a system perturbed by an external field and subject to dissipative processes. From the von Neumann equation for such a system in the weak coupling limit we derive an inhomogeneous master equation, i.e., a master equation with dissipative terms and streaming terms, using Zwanzig’s projection operator technique in Liouville space. From this equation the response function, as well as expressions for the generalized conductivity and susceptibility, is obtained. It is shown that for large times only the diagonal part of the density operator is required. The various expressions are found to be in complete harmony with previous results (Part I) obtained via the van Hove limit of the Kubo–Green linear response formulas. In order to account for the properties at quantum frequencies, the evolution of the nondiagonal part in the weak coupling limit is also established. The complete time dependent behavior of the dynamic variables in the van Hove limit is expressed by B (t) =exp[−(Λd−iℒ0) t] B, where Λd is the master operator and L0 the Liouville operator in the interaction picture. The cause of irreversibility is discussed. Finally, the inhomogeneous master equation is employed to obtain as first moment equation a Boltzmann equation with streaming terms, applicable to quantum systems.