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Molecular Physics

Bohm's formulation in imaginary time: estimation of energy eigenvalues

Jian Liu, Nancy Makri

Published Mar 20, 2005• 25 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Bohm's hydrodynamic formulation of quantum mechanics is employed to solve the diffusion equation. Quantum trajectories are found to behave differently in imaginary time, exhibiting caustic singularities. A wavefunction repartitioning methodology is introduced to prevent the imaginary-time crossing events, leading to stable evolution that does not suffer from the numerical obstacles that characterize Bohmian dynamics in real time. Use of an approximate technique based on trajectory stability properties to solve Bohm's equations in imaginary time leads to an accurate prediction of the energy of a low-lying eigenstate from a single quantum trajectory.

DOI
10.1080/00268970512331339387

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Bohm's hydrodynamic formulation of quantum mechanics is employed to solve the diffusion equation. Quantum trajectories are found to behave differently in imaginary time, exhibiting caustic singularities. A wavefunction repartitioning methodology is introduced to prevent the imaginary-time crossing events, leading to stable evolution that does not suffer from the numerical obstacles that characterize Bohmian dynamics in real time. Use of an approximate technique based on trajectory stability properties to solve Bohm's equations in imaginary time leads to an accurate prediction of the energy of a low-lying eigenstate from a single quantum trajectory.
In this chapter we formulate quantum trajectory dynamics in imaginary time which seamlessly connects to Bohmian dynamics in real time. Approximate determination of the quantum potential and mixed representation of wavefunctions with nodes make this trajectory approach stable and scalable to high dimensions, while including the T&F Cat # K11224, Chapter 23, Page 362, 15-9-2010 leading quantum effects into wavefunction evolution. Reaction probabilities, energy eigenstates and reaction rate constants can be obtained by propagating an ensemble of quantum trajectories in real and/or imaginary time.
Quantum trajectories, originating from the de Broglie–Bohm hydrodynamic description of quantum mechanics, are used to construct time-correlation functions in an initial value representation. The formulation is fully quantum mechanical and the resulting equations for the correlation functions are similar in form to their semiclassical analogs but do not require the computation of the stability or monodromy matrix or conjugate points. We then move to a local trajectory description by evolving the cumulants of the wave function along each individual path. The resulting equations of motion are an infinite hierarchy, which we truncate at a given order. We show that time-correlation functions computed using these approximate quantum trajectories can be used to accurately compute the eigenvalue spectrum for various potential systems.
Bohmian mechanics, developed by Bohm in 1952, provides an alternative interpretation to nonrelativistic quantum mechanics [1-3]. In the hydrodynamic formulation of quantum mechanics, the continuity equation and the quantum Hamilton-Jacobi equation (QHJE) are obtained by substituting the wave function expressed in terms of the real amplitude and the real action function into the time-dependent Schrödinger equation. Bohm’s analytical approach has been used to compute and interpret realvalued quantum trajectories from a precomputed wave function for a diverse range of physical processes [3-8]. In the synthetic approach, the quantum trajectory method has been developed as a computational tool to generate the wave function by evolving ensembles of real-valued quantum trajectories through the integration of the hydrodynamic equations on the fly [9]. Remarkable progress has been made in the use of T&F Cat # K11224, Chapter 18, Page 284, 15-9-2010 real-valued quantum trajectories for solving a wide range of quantum mechanical problems [10].
The Boltzmann evolution of a wavefunction can be recast as imaginary-time dynamics of the quantum trajectory ensemble. The quantum effects arise from the momentum-dependent quantum potential--computed approximately to be practical in high-dimensional systems--influencing the trajectories in addition to the external classical potential [S. Garashchuk, J. Chem. Phys. 132, 014112 (2010)]. For a nodeless wavefunction represented as ψ(x, t) = exp(-S(x, t)/ħ) with the trajectory momenta defined by ∇S(x, t), analysis of the Lagrangian and Eulerian evolution shows that for bound potentials the former is more accurate while the latter is more practical because the Lagrangian quantum trajectories diverge with time. Introduction of stationary and time-dependent components into the wavefunction representation generates new Lagrangian-type dynamics where the trajectory spreading is controlled improving efficiency of the trajectory description. As an illustration, different types of dynamics are used to compute zero-point energy of a strongly anharmonic well and low-lying eigenstates of a high-dimensional coupled harmonic system.
The hydrodynamic, or the de Broglie-Bohm, formulation provides an alternative to the conventional time-dependent Schrödinger equation based on quantum trajectories. The trajectory dynamics scales favorably with the system size, but it is, generally, unstable due to singularities in the exact quantum potential. The approximate quantum potential based on the fitting of the nonclassical component of the momentum operator in terms of a small basis is numerically stable but can lead to inaccurate large net forces in bound systems. We propose to compensate errors in the approximate quantum potential by applying a semiempirical friction-like force. This significantly improves the description of zero-point energy in bound systems. Examples are given for one-dimensional models relevant to nuclear dynamics.
In recent years trajectory based methodologies have become increasingly popular for evaluating the time evolution of quantum systems. A revival of the de Broglie--Bohm interpretation of quantum mechanics has spawned several such techniques for examining quantum dynamics from a hydrodynamic perspective. Using techniques similar to those found in computational fluid dynamics one can construct the wave function of a quantum system at any time from the trajectories of a discrete ensemble of hydrodynamic fluid elements (Bohm particles) which evolve according to nonclassical equations of motion. Until very recently these schemes have been limited to conservative systems. In this paper, we present our methodology for including the effects of a thermal environment into the hydrodynamic formulation of quantum dynamics. We derive hydrodynamic equations of motion from the Caldeira-Leggett master equation for the reduced density matrix and give a brief overview of our computational scheme that incorporates an adaptive Lagrangian mesh. Our applications focus upon the dissipative dynamics of open unbounded quantum systems. Using both the Wigner phase space representation and the linear entropy, we probe the breakdown of the Markov approximation of the bath dynamics at low temperatures. We suggest a criteria for rationalizing the validity of the Markov approximation in open unbound systems and discuss decoherence, energy relaxation, and quantum/classical correspondence in the context of the Bohmian paths.