Quantum classical path

Fast P L and Truhlar D G 1998 Variational reaction path algorithm J. Chem. Phys. 109 3721 Billing G D 1992 Quantum classical reaction-path model for chemical reactions Chem. Phys. 161 245... 

The standard semiclassical methods are surface hopping and Ehrenfest dynamics (also known as the classical path (CP) method [197]), and they will be outlined below. More details and comparisons can be found in [30-32]. The multiple spawning method, based on Gaussian wavepacket propagation, is also outlined below. See [1] for further infomiation on both quantum and semiclassical non-adiabatic dynamics methods. 

Solving the Eqs. (C.6-C.8,C.12,C.13) comprise what is known as the Ehrenfest dynamics method. This method has appealed under a number of names and derivations in the literatnre such as the classical path method, eilconal approximation, and hemiquantal dynamics. It has also been put to a number of different applications, often using an analytic PES for the electronic degrees of freedom, but splitting the nuclear degrees of freedom into quantum and classical parts. 

Another popular and convenient way to study the quantum dynamics of a vibrational system is wave packet propagation (Sepulveda and Grossmann, 1996). According to the ideas of Ehrenfest the center of these non-stationary functions follows during a certain time classical paths, thus representing a natural way of establishing the quantum-classical correspondence. In our case the dynamics of wave packets can be calculated quite easily by projection of the initial function into the basis set formed by the stationary eigen-... 

As explained in the Introduction, most mixed quantum-classical (MQC) methods are based on the classical-path approximation, which describes the reaction of the quantum degrees of freedom (DoF) to the dynamics of the classical DoF [9-22]. To discuss the classical-path approximation, let us first consider a diabatic... 

Equation (28) is still exact. To introduce the classical-path approximation, we assume that the nuclear dynamics of the system can be described by classical trajectories that is, the position operator x is approximated by its mean value, namely, the trajectory x t). As a consequence, the quantum-mechanical operators of the nuclear dynamics (e.g., Eh (x)) become classical functions that depend parametrically on x t). In the same way, the nuclear wave functions dk x,t) become complex-valued coefficients dk x t),t). As the electronic dynamics is evaluated along the classical path of the nuclei, the approximation thus accounts for the reaction of the quantum DoE to the dynamics of the classical DoF. 

The classical-path approximation introduced above is common to most MQC formulations and describes the reaction of the quantum DoF to the dynamics of the classical DoF. The back-reaction of the quantum DoF onto the dynamics of the classical DoF, on the other hand, may be described in different ways. In the mean-field trajectory (MFT) method (which is sometimes also called Ehrenfest model, self-consistent classical-path method, or semiclassical time-dependent self-consistent-field method) considered in this section, the classical force F = pj acting on the nuclear DoF xj is given as an average over the quantum DoF... 

Classical Path. Another approach to scattering calculations uses a quantum-mechanical description of the internal states, but classical mechanics for the translational motion. This "classical path" method has been popular in line-shape calculations (37,38). It is almost always feasible to carry out such calculations in the perturbation approximation for the internal states (37). Only recently have practical methods been developed to perform non-perturbative calculations in this approach (39). 

To get accurate results from this approach, it is necessary that the collisional changes in the internal energy be small compared to the translational energy. Then one can accurately assume a common translation path for all coupled internal states. In the usual applications of this method, one does not include interference effects between different classical paths, so that translational quantum effects, including total elastic cross sections, are not predicted. If the perturbation approximation is also used, accuracy can be guaranteed only when the sum of the transition probabilities remains small throughout the collision. 

The calculated [using a quantized classical path (QCP) approach] and observed isotope effects and rate constants are in good agreement for the proton-transfer step in the catalytic reaction of carbonic anhydrase. This approach takes account of the role of quantum mechanical nuclear motions in enzyme reactions.208... 

The mixed quantum classical description of EET can be achieved in using Eq. (49) together with the electronic ground-state classical path version of Eq. (50). As already indicated this approach is valid for any ratio between the excitonic coupling and the exciton vibrational interaction. If an ensemble average has been taken appropriately we may also expect the manifestation of electronic excitation energy dissipation and coherence decay, however, always in the limit of an infinite temperature approach. 

The standard translation of the full quantum formula of the absorbance, Eq. (31), to a mixed quantum classical description (see, e.g., [16-18]) is similar to what is the essence of the (electronic ground-state) classical path approximation introduced in the foregoing section. One assumes that all involved nuclear coordinates behave classically and their time-dependence is obtained by carrying out MD simulations in the systems electronic ground state. This approach when applied to the absorbance is known as the dynamical classical limit (DCL, see, for example, Res. [17]). 

The mapping basis has been exploited in quantum-classical calculations based on a linearization of the path integral formulation of quantum correlation functions in the LAND-map method [50-52]. 

The question then arises if a convenient mixed quantum-classical description exists, which allows to treat as quantum objects only the (small number of) degrees of freedom whose dynamics cannot be described by classical equations of motion. Apart in the limit of adiabatic dynamics, the question is open and a coherent derivation of a consistent mixed quantum-classical dynamics is still lacking. All the methods proposed so far to derive a quantum-classical dynamics, such as the linearized path integral approach [2,6,7], the coupled Bohmian phase space variables dynamics [3,4,9] or the quantum-classical Li-ouville representation [11,17—19], are based on approximations and typically fail to satisfy some properties that are expected to hold for a consistent mechanics [5,19]. 

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