Non-adiabatic dynamics close to conical intersections and the surface hopping perspective

Quantum Mechanical Wave Packet Dynamics at a Conical Intersection with Strong Vibrational Dissipation

We derive a reduced model for the nonadiabatic quantum dynamics of an electronic wave packet moving through a conical intersection in the presence of strong vibrational damping. Starting from the dissipative two-state two-model model, we transform the tuning and the coupling mode to the bath. The resulting quantum two-state model with two highly structured environments is solved numerically exactly in the regime of strong vibrational damping. We find negative cross peaks in the ultrafast optical 2D spectra as clear signatures of the conical intersection. They arise from secondary excitations of the wave packet after having passed through the photophysical energy funnel. This feature is in agreement with recent transient absorption measurements of rhodopsin.