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The Journal of Chemical Physics

Tensor propagator for iterative quantum time evolution of reduced density matrices. I. Theory

Nancy Makri, Dmitrii E. Makarov

Published Mar 15, 1995• 636 citations
Publisher

Abstract

For common condensed phase problems described by a low-dimensional system coupled to a harmonic bath, Feynman’s path integral formulation of time-dependent quantum mechanics leads to expressions for the reduced density matrix of the system where the effects of the harmonic environment enter through an influence functional that is nonlocal in time. In a recent Letter [Chem. Phys. Lett. 221, 482 (1994)], we demonstrated that the range of the nonlocal interactions is finite even at zero temperature, such that the nonlocal kernel extends over only a few time steps if the path integral is expressed in terms of accurate quasiadiabatic propagators. This feature arises from disruption of phase coherence in macroscopic environments and leads to Markovian dynamics for an augmented reduced density tensor, permitting iterative time evolution schemes. In the present paper we analyze the structure and properties of the relevant tensor propagator. Specifically, we show that the tensor multiplication scheme rigorously conserves the trace of the reduced density matrix, and that in cases of short-range nonlocality it leads to Redfield-type equations which are correct to all orders in perturbation theory and which take into account memory effects. We also argue that a simple eigenvector analysis reveals (without actual iteration) the nature of the dynamics and of the equilibrium state, and directly yields quantum reaction or relaxation rates.

DOI
10.1063/1.469508

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For common condensed phase problems described by a low-dimensional system coupled to a harmonic bath, Feynman’s path integral formulation of time-dependent quantum mechanics leads to expressions for the reduced density matrix of the system where the effects of the harmonic environment enter through an influence functional that is nonlocal in time. In a recent Letter [Chem. Phys. Lett. 221, 482 (1994)], we demonstrated that the range of the nonlocal interactions is finite even at zero temperature, such that the nonlocal kernel extends over only a few time steps if the path integral is expressed in terms of accurate quasiadiabatic propagators. This feature arises from disruption of phase coherence in macroscopic environments and leads to Markovian dynamics for an augmented reduced density tensor, permitting iterative time evolution schemes. In the present paper we analyze the structure and properties of the relevant tensor propagator. Specifically, we show that the tensor multiplication scheme rigorously conserves the trace of the reduced density matrix, and that in cases of short-range nonlocality it leads to Redfield-type equations which are correct to all orders in perturbation theory and which take into account memory effects. We also argue that a simple eigenvector analysis reveals (without actual iteration) the nature of the dynamics and of the equilibrium state, and directly yields quantum reaction or relaxation rates.
In a recent Letter [Chem. Phys. Lett. 221, 482 (1994)], we demonstrated that the dynamics of reduced density matrices for systems in contact with dissipative harmonic environments can be obtained in an iterative fashion by multiplication of a propagator tensor. The feasibility of iterative procedures in reduced dimension spaces arises from intrinsic features of the dissipative influence functional in Feynman’s path integral formulation of quantum dynamics. Specifically, the continuum of frequencies characteristic of broad condensed phase spectra disrupts phase coherence to a large extent, such that the dynamics of an augmented reduced density tensor becomes Markovian. In a preceding article [J. Chem. Phys. 102, 4600 (1995)] we examined in detail the formal properties of the tensor propagator. In the present paper we show that the tensor propagator can be further decomposed into a product of small rank tensors, resulting in an extremely simple and efficient numerical scheme that scales almost linearly with the dimension of the augmented reduced density tensor. Numerical application to a model electron transfer reaction is presented.
The dynamics of a one-dimensional quantum system coupled to a harmonic bath can be expressed through Feynman’s path integral expression for the reduced density matrix. In this expression the influence of the environment is seen in correlations between positions of the system that are nonlocal in time. Makri and Makarov [J. Chem. Phys. 102, 4600 (1995)] showed that for many practical problems correlations over only a few time steps, Δkmax, need to be taken into account, which led to an efficient iterative scheme. However, this algorithm scales as the size of the system to the power of 2(Δkmax+1), which restricts the size of the system that can be studied with this method. In this work we present an efficient algorithm which scales linearly with Δkmax. In our method the reduced density matrix is written as a convolution of its past values with an integral equation kernel. The calculation of that kernel is based on a perturbative expansion of the discretized quasiadiabatic path integral expression for the reduced density matrix. The expansion ignores certain types of correlations.
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.
The small matrix decomposition of the quasi-adiabatic propagator path integral (SMatPI) for a system coupled to a harmonic bath, which accounts for multitime memory correlations in the influence functional without the use of tensors, is extended to include a time-dependent term that drives the system. In the case of a periodic field, the algorithm requires the construction of SMatPI matrices initialized over a short time interval. The SMatPI algorithm circumvents the large array storage of tensor-based iterative path integral decompositions and, in the case of a periodic field, also eliminates the demanding tensor multiplication at each time step, leading to dramatic savings which allow the fully quantum mechanical treatment of multistate systems and long-memory environments.
We study a model for treating dissipative systems, a one dimensional quantum system coupled to a harmonic bath. The dynamics of such a system can be described by Feynman’s path integral expression for the reduced density matrix. In this formulation the interaction of the system with the environment is stored in the influence functional. Recently we showed that fast environmental modes that give rise to correlations in the influence functional which are short range in time can be treated efficiently by a memory equation algorithm, which is a discretized version of a master equation. In this work we extend this approach to treat slow environmental modes as well, thereby efficiently linking adiabatic and nonadiabatic regimes. In this extended method the long range correlations in the influence functional arising from slow bath modes are taken into account through Stock’s semiclassical self-consistent-field approach.
In a recent letter [Chem. Phys. Lett. 291, 101 (1998)] we presented a semiclassical methodology for calculating influence functionals arising from many-body anharmonic environments in the path integral formulation of quantum dynamics. Taking advantage of the trace operation associated with the unobservable medium, we express the influence functional in terms of a single propagator along a combined forward–backward system path. This propagator is evaluated according to time-dependent semiclassical theory in a coherent state initial value representation. Because the action associated with propagation in combined forward and backward time is governed by the net force experienced by the environment due to its interaction with the system, the resulting propagator is generally a smooth function of coordinates and thus amenable to Monte Carlo sampling; yet, the interference between forward and reverse propagators is fully accounted for. In the present paper we present a more elaborate version of the semiclassical influence functional formalism, along with algorithms for evaluating the coherent state transform of the Boltzmann operator that enters the influence functional. This factor is evaluated by performing an imaginary time path integral, and various approximations of the resulting expression as well as sampling schemes are discussed. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated via numerous test calculations involving a two-level system coupled to (a) a dissipative harmonic bath and (b) a ten-dimensional bath of coupled anharmonic oscillators.