An adiabatic linearized path integral approach for quantum time-correlation functions II: a cumulant expansion method for improving convergence.

Linearized mixed quantum-classical simulations are a promising approach for calculating time-correlation functions. At the moment, however, they suffer from some numerical problems that may compromise their efficiency and reliability in applications to realistic condensed-phase systems. In this paper, we present a method that improves upon the convergence properties of the standard algorithm for linearized calculations by implementing a cumulant expansion of the relevant averages. The effectiveness of the new approach is tested by applying it to the challenging computation of the diffusion of an excess electron in a metal-molten salt solution.

An adiabatic linearized path integral approach for quantum time correlation functions: electronic transport in metal-molten salt solutions.

We generalize the linearized path integral approach to evaluate quantum time correlation functions for systems best described by a set of nuclear and electronic degrees of freedom, restricting ourselves to the adiabatic approximation. If the operators in the correlation function are nondiagonal in the electronic states, then this adiabatic linearized path integral approximation for the thermal averaged quantum dynamics presents interesting and distinctive features, which we derive and explore in this paper. The capability of these approximations to accurately reproduce the behavior of physical systems is demonstrated by calculating the diffusion constant for an excess electron in a metal-molten salt solution.