No Arabic abstract
Thermal quantum time-correlation functions are of fundamental importance in quantum dynamics, allowing experimentally-measurable properties such as reaction rates, diffusion constants and vibrational spectra to be computed from first principles. Since the exact quantum solution scales exponentially with system size, there has been considerable effort in formulating reliable linear-scaling methods involving exact quantum statistics and approximate quantum dynamics modelled with classical-like trajectories. Here we review recent progress in the field with the development of methods including Centroid Molecular Dynamics (CMD), Ring Polymer Molecular Dynamics (RPMD) and Thermostatted RPMD (TRPMD). We show how these methods have recently been obtained from `Matsubara dynamics, a form of semiclassical dynamics which conserves the quantum Boltzmann distribution. We also rederive t->0+ quantum transition-state theory (QTST) in the Matsubara dynamics formalism showing that Matsubara-TST, like RPMD-TST, is equivalent to QTST. We end by surveying areas for future progress.
A long-standing challenge in mixed quantum-classical trajectory simulations is the treatment of entanglement between the classical and quantal degrees of freedom. We present a novel approach which describes the emergence of entangled states entirely in terms of independent and deterministic Ehrenfest-like classical trajectories. For a two-level quantum system in a classical environment, this is derived by mapping the quantum system onto a path-integral representation of a spin-1/2. We demonstrate that the method correctly accounts for coherence and decoherence and thus reproduces the splitting of a wavepacket in a nonadiabatic scattering problem. This discovery opens up a new class of simulations as an alternative to stochastic surface-hopping, coupled-trajectory or semiclassical approaches.
The possibility of suddenly ionized molecules undergoing extremely fast electron hole dynamics prior to significant structural change was first recognized more than 20 years ago and termed charge migration. The accurate probing of ultrafast electron hole dynamics requires measurements that have both sufficient temporal resolution and can detect the localization of a specific hole within the molecule. We report an investigation of the dynamics of inner valence hole states in isopropanol where we use an x-ray pump/x-ray probe experiment, with site and state-specific probing of a transient hole state localized near the oxygen atom in the molecule, together with an ab initio theoretical treatment. We record the signature of transient hole dynamics and make the first observation of dynamics driven by frustrated Auger-Meitner transitions. We verify that the hole lifetime is consistent with our theoretical prediction. This state-specific measurement paves the way to widespread application for observations of transient hole dynamics localized in space and time in molecules and thus to charge transfer phenomena that are fundamental in chemical and material physics.
Quantum devices may overcome limitations of classical computers in studies of nuclear structure functions and parton Wigner distributions of protons and nuclei. In this talk, we discuss a worldline approach to compute nuclear structure functions in the high energy Regge limit of QCD using a hybrid quantum computer, by expressing the fermion determinant in the QCD path integral as a quantum mechanical path integral over $0+1$-dimensional fermionic and bosonic world-lines in background gauge fields. Our simplest example of computing the well-known dipole model result for the structure function $F_2$ in the high energy Regge limit is feasible with NISQ era technology using few qubits and shallow circuits. This example can be scaled up in complexity and extended in scope to compute structure functions, scattering amplitudes and other real-time correlation functions in QCD, relevant for example to describe non-equilibrium transport of quarks and gluons in a Quark-Gluon-Plasma.
Upon revisiting the Hamiltonian structure of classical wavefunctions in Koopman-von Neumann theory, this paper addresses the long-standing problem of formulating a dynamical theory of classical-quantum coupling. The proposed model not only describes the influence of a classical system onto a quantum one, but also the reverse effect -- the quantum backreaction. These interactions are described by a new Hamiltonian wave equation overcoming shortcomings of currently employed models. For example, the density matrix of the quantum subsystem is always positive-definite. While the Liouville density of the classical subsystem is generally allowed to be unsigned, its sign is shown to be preserved in time for a specific infinite family of hybrid classical-quantum systems. The proposed description is illustrated and compared with previous theories using the exactly solvable model of a degenerate two-level quantum system coupled to a classical harmonic oscillator.
We obtain thermostatted ring polymer molecular dynamics (TRPMD) from exact quantum dynamics via Matsubara dynamics, a recently-derived form of linearization which conserves the quantum Boltzmann distribution. Performing a contour integral in the complex quantum Boltzmann distribution of Matsubara dynamics, replacement of the imaginary Liouvillian which results with a Fokker-Planck term gives TRPMD. We thereby provide error terms between TRPMD and quantum dynamics and predict the systems in which they are likely to be small. Using a harmonic analysis we show that careful addition of friction causes the correct oscillation frequency of the higher ring-polymer normal modes in a harmonic well, which we illustrate with calculation of the position-squared autocorrelation function. However, no physical friction parameter will produce the correct fluctuation dynamics for a parabolic barrier. The results in this paper are consistent with previous numerical studies and advise the use of TRPMD for the computation of spectra.