Reduced density-matrix description

In the case of a reduced density-matrix description of the system dynamics, the reduced probability density of coordinate Ri is given by... 

In Section 8.4.2, we considered the problem of the reduced dynamics from a standard DFT approach, i.e., in terms of single-particle wave functions from which the (single-particle) probability density is obtained. However, one could also use an alternative description which arises from the field of decoherence. Here, in order to extract useful information about the system of interest, one usually computes its associated reduced density matrix by tracing the total density matrix p, (the subscript t here indicates time-dependence), over the environment degrees of freedom. In the configuration representation and for an environment constituted by N particles, the system reduced density matrix is obtained after integrating pt = T) (( over the 3N environment degrees of freedom, rk Nk, ... 

In Bohmian mechanics, the way the full problem is tackled in order to obtain operational formulas can determine dramatically the final solution due to the context-dependence of this theory. More specifically, developing a Bohmian description within the many-body framework and then focusing on a particle is not equivalent to directly starting from the reduced density matrix or from the one-particle TD-DFT equation. Being well aware of the severe computational problems coming from the first and second approaches, we are still tempted to claim that those are the most natural ways to deal with a many-body problem in a Bohmian context. 

A description of the different terms contributing to the correlation effects in the third order reduced density matrix faking as reference the Hartree Fock results is given here. An analysis of the approximations of these terms as functions of the lower order reduced density matrices is carried out for the linear BeFl2 molecule. This study shows the importance of the role played by the homo s and lumo s of the symmetry-shells in the correlation effect. As a result, a new way for improving the third order reduced density matrix, correcting the error ofthe basic approximation, is also proposed here. 

Various methods have been developed that interpolate between the coherent and incoherent regimes (for reviews see, e.g. (3)-(5)). Well-known approaches use the stochastic Liouville equation, of which the Haken-Strobl-Reineker (3) model is an example, and the generalized master equation (4). A powerful technique, which in principle deals with all aspects of the problem, uses the reduced density matrix of the exciton subsystem, which is obtained by projecting out all degrees of freedom (the bath) from the total statistical operator (6). This reduced density operator obeys a closed non-Markovian (integrodifferential) equation with a memory kernel that includes the effects of (multiple) interactions between the excitons and the bath. In practice, one is often forced to truncate this kernel at the level of two interactions. In the Markov approximation, the resulting description is known as Redfield theory (7). 

Density matrices, in particular, the so-called first- and second-order reduced density matrices, are important quantities in the theoretical description of electronic structures because they contain all the essential information of the system under study. Given a set of orthonormal MOs, we define the first-order reduced density matrix D with matrix elements as the expectation value of the excitation operator E = aLa, -I- with respect to some electronic wave function Fgi,... 

He goes on to show that for the description of the energy it is sufficient to know the second-order reduced density matrix F(jc, jc2 i 2)- This was a favorite subject when he was lecturing and led to speculations about the possibility to compute the second-order density matrix directly, and discussions of the so called A/ -represent-ability problem. In spite of several attempts, this way of attacking the quantum chemical many-particle problem has so far been unsuccessful. Of special interest was the first-order reduced density matrix, 7( 1 jC ), which when expanded in a complete one-electron basis, ij/, is obtained as... 

In principle, the theory of nonlinear spectroscopy with femtosecond laser pulses is well developed. A comprehensive and up-to-date exposition of nonlinear optical spectroscopy in the femtosecond time domain is provided by the monograph of Mukamel. ° For additional reviews, see Refs. 7 and 11-14. While many theoretical papers have dealt with the analysis or prediction of femtosecond time-resolved spectra, very few of these studies have explicitly addressed the dynamics associated with conical intersections. In the majority of theoretical studies, the description of the chemical dynamics is based on rather simple models of the system that couples to the laser fields, usually a few-level system or a set of harmonic oscillators. In the case of condensed-phase spectroscopy, dissipation is additionally introduced by coupling the system to a thermal bath, either at a phenomenological level or in a more microscopic maimer via reduced density-matrix theory. 

The first-order reduced density matrix of the exact wave function also has a number of weakly occupied orbitals for which i > N. These orbitals never appear in a single Slater determinant method, but are important for a correct description of the correlation hole. 

It can be seen that, in the average density matrix formalism which is based on spin system model, the scalar couplings and the exchange processes are handled simultaneously. Thus they cannot be separated and a larger atomic basis (spin system) is required for their description. Meanwhile, the Monte Carlo method based on spin sets separates the two interactions, and thus spin systems can be reduced to smaller spin sets. 

The expressions eqs. (1.197), (1.199), (1.200), (1.201) are completely general. From them it is clear that the reduced density matrices are much more economical tools for representing the electronic structure than the wave functions. The two-electron density (more demanding quantity of the two) depends only on two pairs of electronic variables (either continuous or discrete) instead of N electronic variables required by the wave function representation. The one-electron density is even simpler since it depends only on one pair of such coordinates. That means that in the density matrix representation only about (2M)4 numbers are necessary to describe the system (in fact - less due to antisymmetry), whereas the description in terms of the wave function requires, as we know n 2m-n) numbers (FCI expansion amplitudes). However, the density matrices are rarely used directly in quantum chemistry procedures. The reason is the serious problem which appears when one is trying to construct the adequate representation for the left hand sides of the above definitions without addressing any wave functions in the right hand sides. This is known as the (V-representability problem, unsolved until now [51] for the two-electron density matrices. The second is that the symmetry conditions for the electronic states are much easier formulated and controlled in terms of the wave functions (Density matrices are the entities of the second power with respect to the wave functions so their symmetries are described by the second tensor powers of those of the wave functions). 

Though we can compare electron densities directly, there is often a need for more condensed information. The missing link in the experimental sequence are the steps from the electron density to the one-particle density matrix f(1,1 ) to the wavefunction. Essentially the difficulty is that the wavefunction is a function of the 3n space coordinates of the electrons (and the n spin coordinates), while the electron density is only a three-dimensional function. Drastic assumptions must be introduced, such as the description of the molecular orbitals by a limited basis set, and the representation of the density by a single Slater-determinant, in which case the idempotency constraint reduces the number of unknowns... 

When V 0 transitions between L and R can take place, and their populations evolve in time. Defining the total L and R populations by our goal is to characterize the kinetics of the L R process. This is a reduced description because we are not interested in the dynamics of individual level /) and r), only in the overall dynamics associated with transitions between the L and R species. Note that reduction can be done on different levels, and the present focus is on Pl and Pr and the transitions between them. This reduction is not done by limiting attention to a small physical subsystem, but by focusing on a subset of density-matrix elements or, rather, their combinations. 

When calculating carrier transport in a nonequilibrium device we start from the Liouville-Von Neumann expression for the density matrix [342] which reduces under certain conditions to the Boltzmann transport equation. These conditions reflect the semiclassical approach to the description of charge carrier transport and may be summed as [342]... 

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