Kinetically Constrained Ring-Polymer Molecular Dynamics for Non-adiabatic Chemical Reactions
Abstract
We extend ring-polymer molecular dynamics (RPMD) to allow for the direct simulation of general, electronically non-adiabatic chemical processes. The kinetically constrained (KC) RPMD method uses the imaginary-time path-integral representation in the set of nuclear coordinates and electronic states to provide continuous equations of motion that describe the quantized, electronically non-adiabatic dynamics of the system. KC-RPMD preserves the favorable properties of the usual RPMD formulation in the position representation, including rigorous detailed balance, time-reversal symmetry, and invariance of reaction rate calculations to the choice of dividing surface. However, the new method overcomes significant shortcomings of position-representation RPMD by enabling the description of non-adiabatic transitions between states associated with general, many-electron wavefunctions and by accurately describing deep-tunneling processes across asymmetric barriers. We demonstrate that KC-RPMD yields excellent numerical results for a range of model systems, including a simple avoided-crossing reaction and condensed-phase electron-transfer reactions across multiple regimes for the electronic coupling and thermodynamic driving force.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1401.3033,
title = {Kinetically Constrained Ring-Polymer Molecular Dynamics for Non-adiabatic Chemical Reactions},
author = {Artur R. Menzeleev and Franziska Bell and Thomas F. Miller},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1401.3033},
year = {2014}
}