Electron transfer dynamics: Zusman equation versus exact theory

Hierarchical Equations of Motion for Quantum Chemical Dynamics: Recent Methodology Developments and Applications

ConspectusQuantum effects are critical to understanding many chemical dynamical processes in condensed phases, where interactions between molecules and their environment are usually strong and non-Markovian. In this Account, we review recent progress from our group in development and application of the hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM) method, highlighting its ability to address some challenging problems in quantum chemical dynamics.In the HEOM method, the bath degrees of freedom are represented using effective modes from exponential decomposition of the bath correlation function. Complex spectral densities and low temperature simulations often require a larger number of modes, making the simulations very expensive. Recent advances, such as the barycentric spectral decomposition (BSD) technique, can significantly reduce the number of effective modes, allowing to handle complex spectral densities and enabling simulations at very low temperatures, including near-zero temperature dynamics.Another key improvement in the computational efficiency is the use of tensor network methods like matrix product states and hierarchical tensor networks. These techniques allow for efficient HEOM propagation with thousands of effective modes, crucial for simulating large molecular systems interacting with multiple baths. This combination enables simulations of excitation energy transfer (EET) in systems like the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) complex and even larger systems with experimentally determined spectral densities.The versatility of the HEOM method is demonstrated through applications to a wide range of chemical dynamics problems. Simulations of EET and related ultrafast spectroscopy are first briefly covered. Applications of the HEOM to quantum tunneling effects in proton transfer reactions are then presented. Early works have studied the non-Kramers dependence of the rate constant as a function of bath friction due to deep tunneling and revealed vibrationally nonadiabatic dynamics within the so-called nontraditional view of proton transfer reactions. A recent work on the large kinetic isotope effects in soybean lipoxygenase also indicated that many quantum correction approximations to classical transition-state theory may fall short in describing deep tunneling effects.Charge transport and separation dynamics in organic semiconductors are another area where the HEOM method has been instrumental. We first demonstrate that the HEOM provides a unified description of both band-like and thermally assisted charge carrier transport in organic materials. The effect of non-nearest neighbor transitions is then investigated by combining generalized master equations with exact memory kernels. The HEOM method also enables simulation of charge separation in organic photovoltaics (OPVs) and reveals how factors such as external electric fields, entropy, and charge delocalization influence the charge separation barrier and dynamics.Moreover, HEOM has been applied to investigate hydrogen atom scattering on the Au(111) surface and vibrational energy relaxation at molecule-metal interfaces. These studies provide deeper insights into how electron-hole pair excitations and temporary charge transfer states influence the nuclear motion, offering a new framework for simulating nonadiabatic dynamics on metal surfaces.In summary, the HEOM method has developed into a robust tool for simulating quantum effects in condensed phases. Future developments in algorithm efficiency and computational power will likely expand its applicability to even more complex systems.

Hierarchical equations of motion for multiple baths (HEOM-MB) and their application to Carnot cycle

We have developed a computer code for the thermodynamic hierarchical equations of motion derived from a spin subsystem coupled to multiple Drude baths at different temperatures, which are connected to or disconnected from the subsystem as a function of time. The code can simulate the reduced dynamics of the subsystem under isothermal, isentropic, thermostatic, and entropic conditions. The extensive and intensive thermodynamic variables are calculated as physical observables, and Gibbs and Helmholtz energies are evaluated as intensive and extensive work. The energy contribution of the system-bath interaction is evaluated separately from the subsystem using the hierarchical elements of the hierarchical equations of motion. The accuracy of the calculated results for the equilibrium distribution and the two-body correlation functions is assessed by contrasting the results with those obtained from the time-convolution-less Redfield equation. It is shown that the Lindblad master equation is inappropriate for the thermodynamic description of a spin-boson system. Non-Markovian effects in thermostatic processes are investigated by sequentially turning on and off the baths at different temperatures with different switching times and system-bath coupling. In addition, the Carnot cycle is simulated under quasi-static conditions. To analyze the work performed for the subsystem in the cycle, thermodynamic work diagrams are plotted as functions of intensive and extensive variables. The C++ source codes are provided as supplementary material.

A stochastic Schrödinger equation and matrix product state approach to carrier transport in organic semiconductors with nonlocal electron-phonon interaction

Evaluation of the charge transport property of organic semiconductors requires exact quantum dynamics simulation of large systems. We present a numerically nearly exact approach to investigate carrier transport dynamics in organic semiconductors by extending the non-Markovian stochastic Schrödinger equation with complex frequency modes to a forward-backward scheme and by solving it using the matrix product state (MPS) approach. By utilizing the forward-backward formalism for noise generation, the bath correlation function can be effectively treated as a temperature-independent imaginary part, enabling a more accurate decomposition with fewer complex frequency modes. Using this approach, we study the carrier transport and mobility in the one-dimensional Peierls model, where the nonlocal electron-phonon interaction is taken into account. The reliability of this approach was validated by comparing carrier diffusion motion with those obtained from the hierarchical equations of motion method across various parameter regimes of the phonon bath. The efficiency was demonstrated by the modest virtual bond dimensions of MPS and the low scaling of the computational time with the system size.

Simulating Chemistry on Bosonic Quantum Devices

Bosonic quantum devices offer a novel approach to realize quantum computations, where the quantum two-level system (qubit) is replaced with the quantum (an)harmonic oscillator (qumode) as the fundamental building block of the quantum simulator. The simulation of chemical structure and dynamics can then be achieved by representing or mapping the system Hamiltonians in terms of bosonic operators. In this Perspective, we review recent progress and future potential of using bosonic quantum devices for addressing a wide range of challenging chemical problems, including the calculation of molecular vibronic spectra, the simulation of gas-phase and solution-phase adiabatic and nonadiabatic chemical dynamics, the efficient solution of molecular graph theory problems, and the calculations of electronic structure.

Role of Quantum Information in HEOM Trajectories

Open quantum systems often operate in the non-Markovian regime where a finite history of a trajectory is intrinsic to its evolution. The degree of non-Markovianity for a trajectory may be measured in terms of the amount of information flowing from the bath back into the system. In this study, we consider how information flows through the auxiliary density operators (ADOs) in the hierarchical equations of motion. We consider three cases for a range of baths, underdamped, intermediate, and overdamped. By understanding how information flows, we are able to determine the relative importance of different ADOs within the hierarchy. We show that ADOs sharing a common Matsubara axis behave similarly, while ADOs on different Matsubara axes behave differently. Using this knowledge, we are able to truncate hierarchies significantly, thus reducing the computation time, while obtaining qualitatively similar results. This is illustrated by comparing 2D electronic spectra for a molecule with an underdamped vibration subsumed into the bath spectral density.

Bexcitonics: Quasiparticle approach to open quantum dynamics

We develop a quasiparticle approach to capture the dynamics of open quantum systems coupled to bosonic thermal baths of arbitrary complexity based on the Hierarchical Equations of Motion (HEOM). This is done by generalizing the HEOM dynamics and mapping it into that of the system in interaction with a few bosonic fictitious quasiparticles that we call bexcitons. Bexcitons arise from a decomposition of the bath correlation function into discrete features. Specifically, bexciton creation and annihilation couple the auxiliary density matrices in the HEOM. The approach provides a systematic strategy to construct exact quantum master equations that include the system-bath coupling to all orders even for non-Markovian environments. Specifically, by introducing different metrics and representations for the bexcitons it is possible to straightforwardly generate different variants of the HEOM, demonstrating that all these variants share a common underlying quasiparticle picture. Bexcitonic properties, while unphysical, offer a coarse-grained view of the correlated system-bath dynamics and its numerical convergence. For instance, we use it to analyze the instability of the HEOM when the bath is composed of underdamped oscillators and show that it leads to the creation of highly excited bexcitons. The bexcitonic picture can also be used to develop more efficient approaches to propagate the HEOM. As an example, we use the particle-like nature of the bexcitons to introduce mode-combination of bexcitons in both number and coordinate representation that uses the multi-configuration time-dependent Hartree to efficiently propagate the HEOM dynamics.

Finite temperature dynamics in a polarized sub-Ohmic heat bath: A hierarchical equations of motion-tensor train study

The dynamics of the sub-Ohmic spin-boson model under polarized initial conditions at finite temperatures is investigated by employing both analytical tools and the numerically accurate hierarchical equations of motion-tensor train method. By analyzing the features of nonequilibrium dynamics, we discovered a bifurcation phenomenon, which separates two regimes of the dynamics. It is found that before the bifurcation time, increasing temperature slows down the population dynamics, while the opposite effect occurs after the bifurcation time. The dynamics is highly sensitive to both initial preparation of the bath and thermal effects.

Simulating the operation of a quantum computer in a dissipative environment

The operations of current quantum computers are still significantly affected by decoherence caused by interaction with the environment. In this work, we employ the non-perturbative hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM) method to simulate the operation of model quantum computers and reveal the effects of dissipation on the entangled quantum states and on the performance of well-known quantum algorithms. Multi-qubit entangled states in Shor's factorizing algorithm are first generated and propagated using the HEOM. It is found that the failure of factorization is accompanied by a loss of fidelity and mutual information. An important challenge in using the HEOM to simulate quantum computers in a dissipative environment is how to efficiently treat systems with many qubits. We propose a two-dimensional tensor network scheme for this problem and demonstrate its capability by simulating a one-dimensional random circuit model with 21 qubits.

Recovering Marcus Theory Rates and Beyond without the Need for Decoherence Corrections: The Mapping Approach to Surface Hopping

It is well-known that fewest-switches surface hopping (FSSH) fails to correctly capture the quadratic scaling of rate constants with diabatic coupling in the weak-coupling limit, as expected from Fermi's golden rule and Marcus theory. To address this deficiency, the most widely used approach is to introduce a "decoherence correction", which removes the inconsistency between the wave function coefficients and the active state. Here we investigate the behavior of a new nonadiabatic trajectory method, called the mapping approach to surface hopping (MASH), on systems that exhibit an incoherent rate behavior. Unlike FSSH, MASH hops between active surfaces deterministically and can never have an inconsistency between the wave function coefficients and the active state. We show that MASH not only can describe rates for intermediate and strong diabatic coupling but also can accurately reproduce the results of Marcus theory in the golden-rule limit, without the need for a decoherence correction. MASH is therefore a significant improvement over FSSH in the simulation of nonadiabatic reactions.

Detailed balance in mixed quantum-classical mapping approaches

The violation of detailed balance poses a serious problem for the majority of current quasiclassical methods for simulating nonadiabatic dynamics. In order to analyze the severity of the problem, we predict the long-time limits of the electronic populations according to various quasiclassical mapping approaches by applying arguments from classical ergodic theory. Our analysis confirms that regions of the mapping space that correspond to negative populations, which most mapping approaches introduce in order to go beyond the Ehrenfest approximation, pose the most serious issue for reproducing the correct thermalization behavior. This is because inverted potentials, which arise from negative electronic populations entering the nuclear force, can result in trajectories unphysically accelerating off to infinity. The recently developed mapping approach to surface hopping (MASH) provides a simple way of avoiding inverted potentials while retaining an accurate description of the dynamics. We prove that MASH, unlike any other quasiclassical approach, is guaranteed to describe the exact thermalization behavior of all quantum-classical systems, confirming it as one of the most promising methods for simulating nonadiabatic dynamics in real condensed-phase systems.

Hierarchical equations of motion approach for accurate characterization of spin excitations in quantum impurity systems

Recent technological advancement in scanning tunneling microscopes has enabled the measurement of spin-field and spin-spin interactions in single atomic or molecular junctions with an unprecedentedly high resolution. Theoretically, although the fermionic hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM) method has been widely applied to investigate the strongly correlated Kondo states in these junctions, the existence of low-energy spin excitations presents new challenges to numerical simulations. These include the quest for a more accurate and efficient decomposition for the non-Markovian memory of low-temperature environments and a more careful handling of errors caused by the truncation of the hierarchy. In this work, we propose several new algorithms, which significantly enhance the performance of the HEOM method, as exemplified by the calculations on systems involving various types of low-energy spin excitations. Being able to characterize both the Kondo effect and spin excitation accurately, the HEOM method offers a sophisticated and versatile theoretical tool, which is valuable for the understanding and even prediction of the fascinating quantum phenomena explored in cutting-edge experiments.

A simple improved low temperature correction for the hierarchical equations of motion

The study of open system quantum dynamics has been transformed by the hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM) method, which gives the exact dynamics for a system coupled to a harmonic bath at arbitrary temperature and system-bath coupling strength. However in its standard form the method is only consistent with the weak-coupling quantum master equation at all temperatures when many auxiliary density operators are included in the hierarchy, even when low temperature corrections are included. Here we propose a new low temperature correction scheme for the termination of the hierarchy based on Zwanzig projection which alleviates this problem, and restores consistency with the weak-coupling master equation with a minimal hierarchy. The utility of the new correction scheme is demonstrated on a range of model systems, including the Fenna-Metthews-Olson complex. The new closure is found to improve convergence of the HEOM even beyond the weak-coupling limit and is very straightforward to implement in existing HEOM codes.

The influence of a Hamiltonian vibration vs a bath vibration on the 2D electronic spectra of a homodimer

We elucidate the influence of the system–bath boundary placement within an open quantum system, with emphasis on the two-dimensional electronic spectra, through the application of the hierarchical equations of motion formalism for an exciton system. We apply two different models, the Hamiltonian vibration model (HVM) and bath vibration model (BVM), to a monomer and a homodimer. In the HVM, we specifically include the vibronic states in the Hamiltonian capturing vibronic quenching, whereas in the BVM, all vibrational details are contained within the bath and described by an underdamped spectral density. The resultant spectra are analyzed in terms of energetic peak position and thermodynamic broadening precision in order to evaluate the efficacy of the two models. The HVM produces 2D spectra with accurate peak positional information, while the BVM is well suited to modeling dynamic peak broadening. For the monomer, both models produce equivalent spectra in the limit where additional damping associated with the underdamped vibration in the BVM approaches zero. This is supported by analytical results. However, for the homodimer, the BVM spectra are redshifted with respect to the HVM due to an absence of vibronic quenching in the BVM. The computational efficiency of the two models is also discussed in order to inform us of the most appropriate use of each method.

Strong Exciton-Vibrational Coupling in Molecular Assemblies. Dynamics Using the Polaron Transformation in HEOM Space

In Frenkel exciton dynamics of aggregated molecules, the polaron transformation (PT) technique leads to decoupling of diagonal elements in the subspace of excited electronic states from vibrations. In this article we describe for the first time how PT becomes applicable in the framework of the "Hierarchical Equations of Motion" (HEOM) approach for treatment of open quantum systems. We extend the concept of formulating operators in HEOM space by deriving hierarchical equations of PT which lead to a shift in the excited state potential energy surface to compensate its displacement. While the assumption of thermal equilibration of the vibrational oscillators, introduced by PT, results in a stationary state in a monomer, in a dimer under the same assumption nonequilibrium dynamics appears because of the interplay of the transfer process and vibrational equilibration. Both vertical transitions generating a vibrationally hot state and initially equilibrated vibrational oscillators evolve toward the same stationary asymptotic state associated with polaron formation. The effect of PT on the dynamics of this process depends on initial excitation and basis representation of the electronic system. The developed approach facilitates a generic formulation of quantum master equations involving perturbative treatment of polaron dynamics.

Efficient propagation of the hierarchical equations of motion using the Tucker and hierarchical Tucker tensors

We develop new methods to efficiently propagate the hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM) by using the Tucker and hierarchical Tucker (HT) tensors to represent the reduced density operator and auxiliary density operators. We first show that by employing the split operator method, the specific structure of the HEOM allows a simple propagation scheme using the Tucker tensor. When the number of effective modes in the HEOM increases and the Tucker representation becomes intractable, the split operator method is extended to the binary tree structure of the HT representation. It is found that to update the binary tree nodes related to a specific effective mode, we only need to propagate a short matrix product state constructed from these nodes. Numerical results show that by further employing the mode combination technique commonly used in the multi-configuration time-dependent Hartree approaches, the binary tree representation can be applied to study excitation energy transfer dynamics in a fairly large system including over 10⁴ effective modes. The new methods may thus provide a promising tool in simulating quantum dynamics in condensed phases.

Numerically "exact" approach to open quantum dynamics: The hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM)

An open quantum system refers to a system that is further coupled to a bath system consisting of surrounding radiation fields, atoms, molecules, or proteins. The bath system is typically modeled by an infinite number of harmonic oscillators. This system-bath model can describe the time-irreversible dynamics through which the system evolves toward a thermal equilibrium state at finite temperature. In nuclear magnetic resonance and atomic spectroscopy, dynamics can be studied easily by using simple quantum master equations under the assumption that the system-bath interaction is weak (perturbative approximation) and the bath fluctuations are very fast (Markovian approximation). However, such approximations cannot be applied in chemical physics and biochemical physics problems, where environmental materials are complex and strongly coupled with environments. The hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM) can describe the numerically "exact" dynamics of a reduced system under nonperturbative and non-Markovian system-bath interactions, which has been verified on the basis of exact analytical solutions (non-Markovian tests) with any desired numerical accuracy. The HEOM theory has been used to treat systems of practical interest, in particular, to account for various linear and nonlinear spectra in molecular and solid state materials, to evaluate charge and exciton transfer rates in biological systems, to simulate resonant tunneling and quantum ratchet processes in nanodevices, and to explore quantum entanglement states in quantum information theories. This article presents an overview of the HEOM theory, focusing on its theoretical background and applications, to help further the development of the study of open quantum dynamics.

A non-perturbative approach to simulate heterogeneous electron transfer dynamics: Effective mode treatment of the continuum electronic states

We propose a non-perturbative method to simulate heterogeneous electron transfer dynamics in systems described by a Newns-Anderson type of model. The coupling between the molecule and the continuum electronic states at the metal or semiconductor surface is represented using a set of effective modes, by employing an exponential expansion of the bath correlation functions. Depending on the nature of the problems, the nuclear degrees of freedom are either treated explicitly using wave functions and density operators or as dissipative modes using the techniques from the hierarchical equations of the motion method. Numerical examples are also presented for applications in problems including (1) photo-induced charge transfer at the molecule-semiconductor interfaces, (2) heterogeneous electron transfer at the molecule-metal interface, and (3) vibrational relaxation on a metal surface.

On the exact truncation tier of fermionic hierarchical equations of motion

The hierarchical equations of motion (HEOM) theory is in principle exact for describing the dissipative dynamics of quantum systems linearly coupled to Gaussian environments. In practice, the hierarchy needs to be truncated at a finite tier. We demonstrate that, for general systems described by the fermionic HEOM, the (n+L̃)th-tier truncation with L̃=2N_σN_ν yields the exact density operators up to the nth tier. Here, N_σ = 2 for fermionic systems and N_ν is the system degrees of freedom. For noninteracting systems, L̃ is further reduced by half. Such an exact termination pattern originates from the Pauli exclusion principle for fermions, and it holds true regardless of the system-environment coupling strength, the number of coupling reservoirs, or the specific scheme employed to unravel the environment memory contents. The relatively small L̃ emphasizes the nonperturbative nature of the HEOM theory. We also propose a simplified HEOM approach to further reduce the memory cost for practical calculations.

Fokker-Planck quantum master equation for mixed quantum-semiclassical dynamics

We revisit Caldeira-Leggett's quantum master equation representing mixed quantum-classical theory, but with limited applications. Proposed is a Fokker-Planck quantum master equation theory, with a generic bi-exponential correlation function description on semiclassical Brownian oscillators' environments. The new theory has caustic terms that bridge between the quantum description on primary systems and the semiclassical or quasi-classical description on environments. Various parametrization schemes, both analytical and numerical, for the generic bi-exponential environment bath correlation functions are proposed and scrutinized. The Fokker-Planck quantum master equation theory is of the same numerical cost as the original Caldeira-Leggett's approach but acquires a significantly broadened validity and accuracy range, as illustrated against the exact dynamics on model systems in quantum Brownian oscillators' environments, at moderately low temperatures.

Does Nonadiabatic Transition State Theory Make Sense Without Decoherence?

We analyze thermal rate constants as computed with surface hopping dynamics and resolve certain inconsistencies that have permeated the literature. On one hand, according to Landry and Subotnik (J. Chem. Phys. 2012, 137, 22A513), without decoherence, direct dynamics with surface hopping overestimates the rate of relaxation for the spin-boson Hamiltonian. On the other hand, according to Jain and Subotnik (J. Chem. Phys. 2015, 143, 134107), without decoherence, a transition state theory with surface hopping underestimates spin-boson rate constants. In this Letter, we resolve this apparent contradiction. We show that, without decoherence, direct dynamics and transition state theory should not agree; agreement is guaranteed only with decoherence. We also show that, even though the effects of decoherence may be hidden for isoenergetic reactions, these decoherence failures are exposed for exothermic reactions. We believe these lessons are essential when interpreting surface hopping papers published in the literature without any decoherence corrections.