Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation

Tensor-Train Format Hierarchical Equations of Motion Formalism: Charge Transfer in Organic Semiconductors via Dissipative Holstein Models

H. Takahashi, Raffaele Borrelli

Published Aug 17, 2024• 13 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Hierarchical Equations of Motion (HEOM) in the Tensor-Train (TT) representation is applied to study the charge-transfer dynamics in organic semiconductors (OSCs). The theoretical formulation as well as the basic computational aspects of HEOM-TT are discussed in detail. Charge transfer in OSCs is modeled using dissipative polaronic models that incorporate the effects of both high- and low-frequency molecular vibrations, and it is simulated in a fully quantum and nonperturbative manner, which has not been studied intensively. The capability of treating complex electron-vibrational systems is examined by analyzing and comparing the numerical behavior of the time-dependent variational approach and the time-Alternating Minimal Energy methods and by calculating the current autocorrelation function and diffusivity across various models. Our results indicate that the HEOM-TT framework offers a robust tool for the detailed analysis of complex polaronic systems, suggesting its potential for broader applications.

DOI
10.1021/acs.jctc.4c00711

Related papers

Carrier mobility in Holstein–Peierls models of organic materials: A tensor-train HEOM approach

H. Takahashi, Raffaele Borrelli

We present a comprehensive theoretical study of charge transport in organic materials on the basis of the one-dimensional dispersive Holstein-Peierls model. The hierarchical equations of motion in tensor-train format (HEOM-TT) method is employed to accurately describe both local Holstein-type and nonlocal Peierls-type electron-phonon couplings in the presence of low-frequency dispersive phonons. Linear response formulation of carrier mobility is obtained by employing the generating functional method. We demonstrate the capability of the method by calculating current correlation functions, diffusivities, and mobilities for various transport regimes. Our results provide new insights into the mechanisms underlying charge transport in organic semiconductors and establish HEOM-TT as a powerful tool for studying complex vibronic quantum dynamics and transport properties in condensed matter systems.

The Journal of Chemical Physics•Nov 17, 2025•2 citations

Expanding the Range of Hierarchical Equations of Motion by Tensor-Train Implementation

Raffaele Borrelli, Sergey Dolgov

The non-equilibrium thermo-field dynamics formulation of the hierarchical equations of motion combined with the tensor-train representation of the density matrix is discussed, and a new numerical integration scheme is introduced. The numerical methodology is based on an adaptive low-rank Galerkin reduction scheme and can preserve linear invariants (such as the trace of the density matrix). The method is applied to the study of the charge transfer dynamics in model pentacene molecular aggregates. The combined effect of a discrete set of molecular vibrational modes and a thermal bath is investigated, paying special attention to the coherent-incoherent transition of the charge transport. The new computational framework is shown to be a very promising methodology for the study of the quantum dynamics of complex molecular systems in the condensed phase.

The Journal of Physical Chemistry B•May 13, 2021•38 citations

Hierarchical Equations of Motion in Matrix Product States: Formalism and Applications for Charge Transport

Hengrui Yang, Zirui Sheng, Liqi Zhou +1 more

We present a Hierarchical Equations of Motion (HEOM) approach in the Matrix Product State (MPS) formalism to simulate carrier transport in molecular aggregates described by an electron-phonon Hamiltonian with bosonic dissipation. Transport properties are evaluated through time-dependent population analysis and mobility calculations. The method's validity is rigorously established through benchmarking against conventional HEOM. Comparative analysis with Thermo-Field Dynamics combined with MPS (TFD + MPS) reveals fundamental similarities and differences in their effective Hamiltonians and demonstrates the superior accuracy and computational efficiency of our HEOM + MPS framework. For single-electron systems, we introduce state-vector space configurations that enhance performance beyond traditional Fock space approaches. Results confirm that our method provides a robust, nearly exact, and efficient numerical quantum dynamic approach for carrier transport in dissipative bosonic environments.

Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation•Oct 16, 2025•1 citation

Density matrix dynamics in twin-formulation: An efficient methodology based on tensor-train representation of reduced equations of motion

Raffaele Borrelli

The twin-formulation of quantum statistical mechanics is employed to describe a new methodology for the solution of the equations of motion of the reduced density matrix in their hierarchical formulation. It is shown that the introduction of tilde operators and of their algebra in the dual space greatly simplifies the application of numerical techniques for the propagation of the density matrix. The application of tensor-train representation of a vector to solve complex quantum dynamical problems within the framework of the twin-formulation is discussed. Next, applications of the hierarchical equations of motion to a dissipative polaron model are presented showing the validity and accuracy of the new approach.

The Journal of Chemical Physics•Jun 17, 2019•75 citations

Holstein polaron transport from numerically “exact” real-time quantum dynamics simulations

Veljko Janković

Numerically "exact" methods addressing the dynamics of coupled electron-phonon systems have been intensively developed. Nevertheless, the corresponding results for the electron mobility μdc are scarce, even for the one-dimensional (1d) Holstein model. Building on our recent progress on single-particle properties, here we develop the momentum-space hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM) method to evaluate real-time two-particle correlation functions of the 1d Holstein model at a finite temperature. We compute numerically "exact" dynamics of the current-current correlation function up to real times sufficiently long to capture the electron's diffusive motion and provide reliable results for μdc in a wide range of model parameters. In contrast to the smooth ballistic-to-diffusive crossover in the weak-coupling regime, we observe a temporally limited slow-down of the electron on intermediate time scales already in the intermediate-coupling regime, which translates to a finite-frequency peak in the optical response. Our momentum-space formulation lowers the numerical effort with respect to existing HEOM-method implementations, while we remove the numerical instabilities inherent to the undamped-mode HEOM by devising an appropriate hierarchy closing scheme. Still, our HEOM remains unstable at too low temperatures, for too strong electron-phonon coupling, and for too fast phonons.

arXiv:2306.13328•The Journal of Chemical Physics•Sep 6, 2023•17 citations

Charge transport limited by nonlocal electron-phonon interaction. I. Hierarchical equations of motion approach

Veljko Janković

Studying charge transport in models with nonlocal carrier-phonon interaction is difficult because it requires finite-temperature real-time correlation functions of mixed carrier-phonon operators. Focusing on models with discrete undamped phonon modes, we show that such correlation functions can be retrieved from the hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM), although phonons have been integrated out. Our procedure relies on the explicit expression of HEOM auxiliaries in terms of phonon creation and annihilation operators. It reveals that the auxiliaries describe multiphonon-assisted carrier transitions induced by genuine many-phonon correlations, from which lower-order correlations are subtracted according to the finite-temperature Wick's theorem. Applying the procedure to our recently developed momentum-space HEOM method featuring a specific hierarchy closing, we compute the numerically exact dynamical mobility of a carrier within the one-dimensional Peierls model. The carrier mobility at moderate temperatures decreases with increasing interaction, whereas high temperatures see the opposite trend, reflecting the prevalence of the phonon-assisted current over the purely electronic band current. The pronounced finite-size effects and HEOM instabilities delimit the range of applicability of our approach to moderate interactions, moderate to high temperatures, and not too fast phonons. Importantly, this range comprises the values relevant for charge transport in crystalline organic semiconductors, and we present and discuss the corresponding numerically exact results in a companion paper (arXiv:2501.05055).

arXiv:2501.05054•Jan 9, 2025•1 citation
Hierarchical Equations of Motion (HEOM) in the Tensor-Train (TT) representation is applied to study the charge-transfer dynamics in organic semiconductors (OSCs). The theoretical formulation as well as the basic computational aspects of HEOM-TT are discussed in detail. Charge transfer in OSCs is modeled using dissipative polaronic models that incorporate the effects of both high- and low-frequency molecular vibrations, and it is simulated in a fully quantum and nonperturbative manner, which has not been studied intensively. The capability of treating complex electron-vibrational systems is examined by analyzing and comparing the numerical behavior of the time-dependent variational approach and the time-Alternating Minimal Energy methods and by calculating the current autocorrelation function and diffusivity across various models. Our results indicate that the HEOM-TT framework offers a robust tool for the detailed analysis of complex polaronic systems, suggesting its potential for broader applications.
We present a comprehensive theoretical study of charge transport in organic materials on the basis of the one-dimensional dispersive Holstein-Peierls model. The hierarchical equations of motion in tensor-train format (HEOM-TT) method is employed to accurately describe both local Holstein-type and nonlocal Peierls-type electron-phonon couplings in the presence of low-frequency dispersive phonons. Linear response formulation of carrier mobility is obtained by employing the generating functional method. We demonstrate the capability of the method by calculating current correlation functions, diffusivities, and mobilities for various transport regimes. Our results provide new insights into the mechanisms underlying charge transport in organic semiconductors and establish HEOM-TT as a powerful tool for studying complex vibronic quantum dynamics and transport properties in condensed matter systems.
The non-equilibrium thermo-field dynamics formulation of the hierarchical equations of motion combined with the tensor-train representation of the density matrix is discussed, and a new numerical integration scheme is introduced. The numerical methodology is based on an adaptive low-rank Galerkin reduction scheme and can preserve linear invariants (such as the trace of the density matrix). The method is applied to the study of the charge transfer dynamics in model pentacene molecular aggregates. The combined effect of a discrete set of molecular vibrational modes and a thermal bath is investigated, paying special attention to the coherent-incoherent transition of the charge transport. The new computational framework is shown to be a very promising methodology for the study of the quantum dynamics of complex molecular systems in the condensed phase.
We present a Hierarchical Equations of Motion (HEOM) approach in the Matrix Product State (MPS) formalism to simulate carrier transport in molecular aggregates described by an electron-phonon Hamiltonian with bosonic dissipation. Transport properties are evaluated through time-dependent population analysis and mobility calculations. The method's validity is rigorously established through benchmarking against conventional HEOM. Comparative analysis with Thermo-Field Dynamics combined with MPS (TFD + MPS) reveals fundamental similarities and differences in their effective Hamiltonians and demonstrates the superior accuracy and computational efficiency of our HEOM + MPS framework. For single-electron systems, we introduce state-vector space configurations that enhance performance beyond traditional Fock space approaches. Results confirm that our method provides a robust, nearly exact, and efficient numerical quantum dynamic approach for carrier transport in dissipative bosonic environments.
The twin-formulation of quantum statistical mechanics is employed to describe a new methodology for the solution of the equations of motion of the reduced density matrix in their hierarchical formulation. It is shown that the introduction of tilde operators and of their algebra in the dual space greatly simplifies the application of numerical techniques for the propagation of the density matrix. The application of tensor-train representation of a vector to solve complex quantum dynamical problems within the framework of the twin-formulation is discussed. Next, applications of the hierarchical equations of motion to a dissipative polaron model are presented showing the validity and accuracy of the new approach.
Numerically "exact" methods addressing the dynamics of coupled electron-phonon systems have been intensively developed. Nevertheless, the corresponding results for the electron mobility μdc are scarce, even for the one-dimensional (1d) Holstein model. Building on our recent progress on single-particle properties, here we develop the momentum-space hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM) method to evaluate real-time two-particle correlation functions of the 1d Holstein model at a finite temperature. We compute numerically "exact" dynamics of the current-current correlation function up to real times sufficiently long to capture the electron's diffusive motion and provide reliable results for μdc in a wide range of model parameters. In contrast to the smooth ballistic-to-diffusive crossover in the weak-coupling regime, we observe a temporally limited slow-down of the electron on intermediate time scales already in the intermediate-coupling regime, which translates to a finite-frequency peak in the optical response. Our momentum-space formulation lowers the numerical effort with respect to existing HEOM-method implementations, while we remove the numerical instabilities inherent to the undamped-mode HEOM by devising an appropriate hierarchy closing scheme. Still, our HEOM remains unstable at too low temperatures, for too strong electron-phonon coupling, and for too fast phonons.
Studying charge transport in models with nonlocal carrier-phonon interaction is difficult because it requires finite-temperature real-time correlation functions of mixed carrier-phonon operators. Focusing on models with discrete undamped phonon modes, we show that such correlation functions can be retrieved from the hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM), although phonons have been integrated out. Our procedure relies on the explicit expression of HEOM auxiliaries in terms of phonon creation and annihilation operators. It reveals that the auxiliaries describe multiphonon-assisted carrier transitions induced by genuine many-phonon correlations, from which lower-order correlations are subtracted according to the finite-temperature Wick's theorem. Applying the procedure to our recently developed momentum-space HEOM method featuring a specific hierarchy closing, we compute the numerically exact dynamical mobility of a carrier within the one-dimensional Peierls model. The carrier mobility at moderate temperatures decreases with increasing interaction, whereas high temperatures see the opposite trend, reflecting the prevalence of the phonon-assisted current over the purely electronic band current. The pronounced finite-size effects and HEOM instabilities delimit the range of applicability of our approach to moderate interactions, moderate to high temperatures, and not too fast phonons. Importantly, this range comprises the values relevant for charge transport in crystalline organic semiconductors, and we present and discuss the corresponding numerically exact results in a companion paper (arXiv:2501.05055).