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The performance of an analytical expression for algorithmic decoherence time is investigated for non–Born–Oppenheimer molecular dynamics. There are two terms in the function that represents the dependence of the decoherence time on the system parameters; one represents decoherence due to the quantum time-energy uncertainty principle and the other represents a back reaction from the decoherent force on the classical trajectory. We particularly examine the question of whether the first term should dominate. Five one-dimensional two-state model systems that represent limits of multidimensional nonadiabatic dynamics are designed for testing mixed quantum-classical methods and for comparing semiclassical calculations with exact quantum calculations. Simulations are carried out with the semiclassical Ehrenfest method (SE), Tully’s fewest switch version (TFS) of the trajectory surface hopping method, and the decay-of-mixing method with natural switching, coherent switching (CSDM), and coherent switching with reinitiation (CSDM-D). The CSDM method is demonstrated to be the most accurate method, and it has several desirable features: (i) It behaves like the representation-independent SE method in the strong nonadiabatic coupling regions; (ii) it behaves physically like the TFS method in noninteractive region; and (iii) the trajectories are continuous with continuous momenta. The CSDM method is also demonstrated to balance coherence well with decoherence, and the results are nearly independent of whether one uses the adiabatic or diabatic representation. The present results provide new insight into the formulation of a physically correct decoherence time to be used with the CSDM method for non–Born–Oppenheimer molecular dynamic simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In studying ultrafast electron transfer from a dye molecule to a nanosized semiconductor particle, pump-probe experiments are commonly used. In this system the electron transfer (ET) rate is faster than vibrational relaxation so that the ET rate should be described by a single-level rate constant and the probing signal (often in the form of time-resolved spectra) contains the contribution from the dynamics of both population and coherence (i.e., wave packet). In this paper, we shall present the theoretical treatments for femtosecond time-resolved pump-probe experiment and the dynamics of population and coherence by the density matrix method, and the calculation of single-level ET rate constant involved in a pump-probe experiment. As an application, we show the theoretical results using parameters extracted from experiments on a specific dye/semiconductor system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A statistical-mechanical treatment of the solubilization in micelle is presented in combination with molecular simulation. The micellar solution is viewed as an inhomogeneous and partially finite, mixed solvent system, and the method of energy representation is employed to evaluate the free-energy change for insertion of a solute into the micelle inside with a realistic set of potential functions. Methane, benzene, and ethylbenzene are adopted as model hydrophobic solutes to analyze the solubilization in sodium dodecyl sulfate micelle. It is shown that these solutes are more favorably located within the micelle than in bulk water and that the affinity to the micelle inside is stronger for benzene and ethylbenzene than for methane. The micellar system is then divided into the hydrophobic core, the head-group region in contact with water, and the aqueous region outside the micelle to assess the relative importance of each region in the solubilization. In support of the pseudophase model, the aqueous region is found to be unimportant to determine the extent of solubilization. The contribution from the hydrophobic-core region is shown to be dominant for benzene and ethylbenzene, while an appreciable contribution from the head-group region is observed for methane. The methodology presented is not restricted to the binding of a molecule to micelle, and will be useful in treating the binding to such nanoscale structures as protein and membrane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]