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Journal of Mathematical Physics

Numerical path integral techniques for long time dynamics of quantum dissipative systems

Nancy Makri

Published May 1, 1995• 377 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Recent progress in numerical methods for evaluating the real-time path integral in dissipative harmonic environments is reviewed. Quasi-adiabatic propagators constructed numerically allow convergence of the path integral with large time increments. Integration of the harmonic bath leads to path integral expressions that incorporate the exact dynamics of the quantum particle along the adiabatic path, with an influence functional that describes nonadiabatic corrections. The resulting quasi-adiabatic propagator path integral is evaluated by efficient system-specific quadratures in most regimes of parameter space, although some cases are handled by grid Monte Carlo sampling. Exploiting the finite span of nonlocal influence functional interactions characteristic of broad condensed phase spectra leads to an iterative scheme for calculating the path integral over arbitrary time lengths. No uncontrolled approximations are introduced, and the resulting methodology converges to the exact quantum result with modest amounts of computational power. Applications to tunneling dynamics in the condensed phase are described.

DOI
10.1063/1.531046

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Recent progress in numerical methods for evaluating the real-time path integral in dissipative harmonic environments is reviewed. Quasi-adiabatic propagators constructed numerically allow convergence of the path integral with large time increments. Integration of the harmonic bath leads to path integral expressions that incorporate the exact dynamics of the quantum particle along the adiabatic path, with an influence functional that describes nonadiabatic corrections. The resulting quasi-adiabatic propagator path integral is evaluated by efficient system-specific quadratures in most regimes of parameter space, although some cases are handled by grid Monte Carlo sampling. Exploiting the finite span of nonlocal influence functional interactions characteristic of broad condensed phase spectra leads to an iterative scheme for calculating the path integral over arbitrary time lengths. No uncontrolled approximations are introduced, and the resulting methodology converges to the exact quantum result with modest amounts of computational power. Applications to tunneling dynamics in the condensed phase are described.
The reduced density matrix of a system coupled to a harmonic dissipative bath can be obtained accurately using an iterative path integral methodology that involves a propagator tensor, whose rank is roughly equal to the number of time steps that span the bath-induced memory. The present work shows that even in situations where the bath is characterized by high-frequency modes (which necessitate a small time step) and slow oscillators (which give rise to very long memory), efficient propagation that takes into account the memory on all time scales is feasible by renormalizing the propagator matrix to include successively larger-length influence functional correlations. At its crudest level, the renormalized propagator is an ordinary matrix, thus the computational demands of the method are very modest, similar to those for propagating the bare system. Yet, test applications on dissipative two-level systems show that the method produces accurate results in demanding situations. By including memory on successively increasing time scales, the method is capable of capturing nonexponential kinetics induced by sluggish solvents.
A nonperturbative technique is developed to solve for the quantum dynamics of an electron interacting strongly with its environment. Real-time path-integral methods are used to solve numerically a quantum dissipation problem that simulates nonequilibrium electron transport in solids. A linearly coupled electron-phonon interaction is used to model the dissipation. This method is nonperturbative in both the electron-phonon coupling and the external electric field, making it useful for electron-transport calculations in cases of both high fields and large phonon-scattering rates. Monte Carlo sampling over the electron paths is done using the Feynman-Vernon influence functional as a weight. Importance-sampling methods are developed for the numerical solution of the quantum propagation. Results of the calculations are shown which include the motion of the electron, the wave-packet spread, and temperature effects.
We propose an efficient path integral scheme for calculating the quantum dynamics of an arbitrary one-dimensional system coupled nonlinearly to many anharmonic noninteracting ‘‘bath’’ degrees of freedom. The starting point is an improved discretization of the path integral in terms of numerically constructed propagators [Chem. Phys. Lett. 193, 435 (1992)]. The resulting influence functional is comprised of one-dimensional correlation functions with step-structured time-dependent potentials and therefore is similar in structure to that employed in the spin-boson calculations of Coalson [J. Chem. Phys. 86, 995 (1987)]. In the present case, though, the influence functional is nonlinear and is computed using numerical iterative wave function propagation methods. Numerical tests on a system coupled to ten anharmonic oscillators demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed scheme, which requires numerical effort that scales only linearly with the number of anharmonic bath degrees of freedom.
Quantum mechanical effects play an important role in dynamics of condensed phases. It is also well known that the difficulty of solving the full Schrödinger equation grows exponentially with time. One approach to cope up with this difficulty is to restrict quantum treatment to a few particles (system) and treat the dynamics of the rest of particles (bath) using classical trajectories. Path integral methods due to their trajectory like nature provide excellent tool to develop quantum-classical methods, but to capture long time dynamics, the number of classical trajectories grow exponentially. A part of this work focuses on improving Quantum-Classical Path Integral (QCPI) treatments that allow for larger path integral time step by building “smarter” propagators. These improved solvent-driven reference propagators is developed by incorporating physically motivated approximations to the solvent. When used in QCPI expression they allow convergence with larger time steps leading to an exponential reduction of the number of trajectories required. Further advantages of these propagators include improvements in path filtering techniques, smaller number of path integral steps for achieving the memory decoherence time, and smoothing of the integrand which leads to convergence with fewer Monte Carlo sample points. These ideas have been validated on the spin boson model - a prototypical model to study condensed phase dynamics, which consists of a two-level system coupled to a harmonic bath. The new approach of building the reference propagators combined with their iterative evaluation and filtering is validated using parameters that mimic the first electron transfer in wild-type photosynthetic reaction centres. A real-world dynamical simulation contains various anharmonic effects, Ferrocene (donor) - Ferrocenium (acceptor) system in liquid Benzene was studied where the anharmonic effects of the bath of liquid Benzene on the dynamics of the system were treated using Ensemble Averaged Classical Path. The process of electron or proton transfer occurs between two species having different charges and fluctuations in the solvent plays a key role in determining the rates of such reaction dynamics. To correctly account for the effects of initial distribution of the solvent on the dynamics of the quantum system, the concept of equilibrating the bath to the donor state of the system is used. Two different approaches have been used within the influence functional framework.
We describe an efficient path integral scheme for calculating the propagator of an arbitrary quantum system, as well as that of a stochastic system in special cases where the Fokker–Planck equation obeys strict detailed balance. The basic idea is to split the respective Hamiltonian into two exactly solvable parts and then to employ a symmetric decomposition of the time evolution operator, which is exact up to a high order in the time step. The resulting single step propagator allows rather large time steps in a path integral and leads to convergence with fewer time slices. Because it involves no system-specific reference system, the algorithm is amenable to all known numerical schemes available for evaluating quantum path integrals. In this way one obtains a highly accurate method, which is simultaneously fast, stable, and computationally simple. Numerical applications to the real time quantum dynamics in a double well and to the stochastic dynamics of a bistable system coupled to a harmonic mode show our method to be superior over the approach developed by the Makri group in their quasiadiabatic propagator representation, to say nothing about the propagation scheme based on the standard Trotter splitting.
Quantum systems are typically subject to various environmental noise sources. Treating these environmental disturbances with a system-bath approach beyond weak coupling, one must refer to numerical methods as, for example, the numerically exact quasi-adiabatic path integral approach. This approach, however, cannot treat baths which couple to the system via operators, which do not commute. We extend the quasi-adiabatic path integral approach by determining the time discrete influence functional for such non-commuting fluctuations and by modifying the propagation scheme accordingly. We test the extended quasi-adiabatic path integral approach by determining the time evolution of a quantum two-level system coupled to two independent baths via non-commuting operators. We show that the convergent results can be obtained and agreement with the analytical weak coupling results is achieved in the respective limits.