Small Matrix Decomposition of Feynman Path Amplitudes

Parsing the Influence Functional: Harmonic Bath Mapping and Anharmonic Small Matrix Path Integral

The influence functional (IF) encodes all of the information required for calculating the dynamical properties of a system in contact with its environment. A direct and simple procedure is introduced for extracting from a few numerical evaluations of the IF, without computing time correlation functions or evaluating integrals, the parameters required for path integral calculations, either within or beyond the harmonic mapping, and for assessing the accuracy of the harmonic bath approximation. In addition, the small matrix decomposition of the path integral (SMatPI) is extended to anharmonic environments and the required matrices are constructed directly from the IF.

Artificial-Intelligence-Based Surrogate Solution of Dissipative Quantum Dynamics: Physics-Informed Reconstruction of the Universal Propagator

The accurate (or even approximate) solution of the equations that govern the dynamics of dissipative quantum systems remains a challenging task in quantum science. While several algorithms have been designed to solve those equations with different degrees of flexibility, they rely mainly on highly expensive iterative schemes. Most recently, deep neural networks have been used for quantum dynamics, but current architectures are highly dependent on the physics of the particular system and usually limited to population dynamics. Here we introduce an artificial-intelligence-based surrogate model that solves dissipative quantum dynamics by parametrizing quantum propagators as Fourier neural operators, which we train using both data set and physics-informed loss functions. Compared with conventional algorithms, our quantum neural propagator avoids time-consuming iterations and provides a universal superoperator that can be used to evolve any initial quantum state for arbitrarily long times. To illustrate the wide applicability of the approach, we employ our quantum neural propagator to compute the population dynamics and time-correlation functions of the Fenna-Matthews-Olson complex.

Exact Non-Markovian Quantum Dynamics on the NISQ Device Using Kraus Operators

The theory of open quantum systems has many applications ranging from simulating quantum dynamics in condensed phases to better understanding quantum-enabled technologies. At the center of theoretical chemistry are the developments of methodologies and computational tools for simulating charge and excitation energy transfer in solutions, biomolecules, and molecular aggregates. As a variety of these processes display non-Markovian behavior, classical computer simulation can be challenging due to exponential scaling with existing methods. With quantum computers holding the promise of efficient quantum simulations, in this paper, we present a new quantum algorithm based on Kraus operators that capture the exact non-Markovian effect at a finite temperature. The implementation of the Kraus operators on the quantum machine uses a combination of singular value decomposition (SVD) and optimal Walsh operators that result in shallow circuits. We demonstrate the feasibility of the algorithm by simulating the spin-boson dynamics and the exciton transfer in the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) complex. The NISQ results show very good agreement with the exact ones.

Real-Time Simulation of Open Quantum Spin Chains with the Inchworm Method

We study the real-time simulation of open quantum systems, where the system is modeled by a spin chain with each spin associated with its own harmonic bath. Our method couples the inchworm method for the spin-boson model and the modular path integral methodology for spin systems. In particular, the introduction of the inchworm method can significantly suppress the numerical sign problem. Both methods are tweaked to make them work seamlessly with each other. We represent our approach in the language of diagrammatic methods and analyze the asymptotic behavior of the computational cost. Extensive numerical experiments are performed to validate our method.

Equation-of-Motion Methods for the Calculation of Femtosecond Time-Resolved 4-Wave-Mixing and N-Wave-Mixing Signals

Femtosecond nonlinear spectroscopy is the main tool for the time-resolved detection of photophysical and photochemical processes. Since most systems of chemical interest are rather complex, theoretical support is indispensable for the extraction of the intrinsic system dynamics from the detected spectroscopic responses. There exist two alternative theoretical formalisms for the calculation of spectroscopic signals, the nonlinear response-function (NRF) approach and the spectroscopic equation-of-motion (EOM) approach. In the NRF formalism, the system-field interaction is assumed to be sufficiently weak and is treated in lowest-order perturbation theory for each laser pulse interacting with the sample. The conceptual alternative to the NRF method is the extraction of the spectroscopic signals from the solutions of quantum mechanical, semiclassical, or quasiclassical EOMs which govern the time evolution of the material system interacting with the radiation field of the laser pulses. The NRF formalism and its applications to a broad range of material systems and spectroscopic signals have been comprehensively reviewed in the literature. This article provides a detailed review of the suite of EOM methods, including applications to 4-wave-mixing and N-wave-mixing signals detected with weak or strong fields. Under certain circumstances, the spectroscopic EOM methods may be more efficient than the NRF method for the computation of various nonlinear spectroscopic signals.

Intramolecular Vibrations in Excitation Energy Transfer: Insights from Real-Time Path Integral Calculations

Excitation energy transfer (EET) is fundamental to many processes in chemical and biological systems and carries significant implications for the design of materials suitable for efficient solar energy harvest and transport. This review discusses the role of intramolecular vibrations on the dynamics of EET in nonbonded molecular aggregates of bacteriochlorophyll, a perylene bisimide, and a model system, based on insights obtained from fully quantum mechanical real-time path integral results for a Frenkel exciton Hamiltonian that includes all vibrational modes of each molecular unit at finite temperature. Generic trends, as well as features specific to the vibrational characteristics of the molecules, are identified. Weak exciton-vibration (EV) interaction leads to compact, near-Gaussian densities on each electronic state, whose peak follows primarily a classical trajectory on a torus, while noncompact densities and nonlinear peak evolution are observed with strong EV coupling. Interaction with many intramolecular modes and increasing aggregate size smear, shift, and damp these dynamical features. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Physical Chemistry, Volume 73 is April 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Small matrix modular path integral: iterative quantum dynamics in space and time

The modular path integral (MPI) formulation for one-dimensional extended systems, such as spin arrays or molecular aggregates, allows evaluation of spin- or exciton-vibration dynamics with effort that scales linearly with the number of units. This work presents a small matrix decomposition of the modular path integral (SMatMPI), which eliminates tensor storage and enables iterative long-time propagation.