Zhoufei Tang

Extended hierarchy equation of motion for the spin-boson model

An extended hierarchy equation of motion (HEOM) is proposed and applied to study the dynamics of the spin-boson model. In this approach, a complete set of orthonormal functions are used to expand an arbitrary bath correlation function. As a result, a complete dynamic basis set is constructed by including the system reduced density matrix and auxiliary fields composed of these expansion functions, where the extended HEOM is derived for the time derivative of each element. The reliability of the extended HEOM is demonstrated by comparison with the stochastic Hamiltonian approach under room-temperature classical ohmic and sub-ohmic noises and the multilayer multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree theory under zero-temperature quantum ohmic noise. Upon increasing the order in the hierarchical expansion, the result obtained from the extended HOEM systematically converges to the numerically exact answer.

A continued fraction resummation form of bath relaxation effect in the spin-boson model.

In the spin-boson model, a continued fraction form is proposed to systematically resum high-order quantum kinetic expansion (QKE) rate kernels, accounting for the bath relaxation effect beyond the second-order perturbation. In particular, the analytical expression of the sixth-order QKE rate kernel is derived for resummation. With higher-order correction terms systematically extracted from higher-order rate kernels, the resummed quantum kinetic expansion approach in the continued fraction form extends the Pade approximation and can fully recover the exact quantum dynamics as the expansion order increases.

Ferromagnetic Spin Fluctuation and Unconventional Superconductivity in Rb2Cr3As3 Revealed by 75As NMR and NQR.

We report (75)As nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) studies on the superconductor Rb(2)Cr(3)As(3) with a quasi-one-dimensional crystal structure. Below T∼100  K, the spin-lattice relaxation rate (1/T(1)) divided by temperature, 1/T(1)T, increases upon cooling down to T(c)=4.8  K, showing a Curie-Weiss-like temperature dependence. The Knight shift also increases with decreasing temperature. These results suggest ferromagnetic spin fluctuation. In the superconducting state, 1/T(1) decreases rapidly below T(c) without a Hebel-Slichter peak, and follows a T(5) variation below T∼3  K, which points to unconventional superconductivity with point nodes in the gap function.

Minimal Model of Quantum Kinetic Clusters for the Energy-Transfer Network of a Light-Harvesting Protein Complex

The energy absorbed in a light-harvesting protein complex is often transferred collectively through aggregated chromophore clusters. For population evolution of chromophores, the time-integrated effective rate matrix allows us to construct quantum kinetic clusters quantitatively and determine the reduced cluster-cluster transfer rates systematically, thus defining a minimal model of energy-transfer kinetics. For Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) and light-havrvesting complex II (LCHII) monomers, quantum Markovian kinetics of clusters can accurately reproduce the overall energy-transfer process in the long-time scale. The dominant energy-transfer pathways are identified in the picture of aggregated clusters. The chromophores distributed extensively in various clusters can assist a fast and long-range energy transfer.

Generalized quantum kinetic expansion: Higher-order corrections to multichromophoric Förster theory.

For a general two-cluster energy transfer network, a new methodology of the generalized quantum kinetic expansion (GQKE) method is developed, which predicts an exact time-convolution equation for the cluster population evolution under the initial condition of the local cluster equilibrium state. The cluster-to-cluster rate kernel is expanded over the inter-cluster couplings. The lowest second-order GQKE rate recovers the multichromophoric Förster theory (MCFT) rate. The higher-order corrections to the MCFT rate are systematically included using the continued fraction resummation form, resulting in the resummed GQKE method. The reliability of the GQKE methodology is verified in two model systems, revealing the relevance of higher-order corrections.

Generalized quantum kinetic expansion: Time scale separation between intra-cluster and inter-cluster kinetics

For a general two-cluster network, a new methodology of the cluster-based generalized quantum kinetic expansion (GQKE) is developed in the matrix formalism under two initial conditions: the local cluster equilibrium and system-bath factorized states. For each initial condition, the site population evolution follows exactly a distinct closed equation, where all the four terms involved are systematically expanded over inter-cluster couplings. For the system-bath factorized initial state, the numerical investigation of the two models, a biased (2, 1)-site system and an unbiased (2, 2)-site system, verifies the reliability of the GQKE and the relevance of higher-order corrections. The time-integrated site-to-site rates and the time evolution of site population reveal the time scale separation between intra-cluster and inter-cluster kinetics. The population evolution of aggregated clusters can be quantitatively described by the approximate cluster Markovian kinetics.

The study of an extended hierarchy equation of motion in the spin-boson model: The cutoff function of the sub-Ohmic spectral density

Following a recently proposed decomposition technique [C. R. Duan et al., Phys. Rev. B 95, 214308 (2017)], we inspect the zero-temperature spin-boson model for five different cutoff functions of the spectral density. With oscillatory and non-oscillatory exponentially decaying functions to decompose the bath correlation function, the hierarchy equation of motion is reliably extended to each spectral density under our investigation. The predicted spin dynamics is gradually converged with the increase of the hierarchic expansion order and the number of decomposing basis functions. Our systematic study of different cutoff functions expands previous results of the delocalized-localized phase transition with the exponential and sudden cutoffs in the spectral density.

Quantum kinetic expansion in the spin-boson model: Matrix formulation and system-bath factorized initial state

Within the framework of the hierarchy equation of motion (HEOM), the quantum kinetic expansion (QKE) method of the spin-boson model is reformulated in the matrix representation. The equivalence between the two formulations (HEOM matrices and quantum operators) is numerically verified from the calculation of the time-integrated QKE rates. The matrix formulation of the QKE is extended to the system-bath factorized initial state. Following a one-to-one mapping between HEOM matrices and quantum operators, a quantum kinetic equation is rederived. The rate kernel is modified by an extra term following a systematic expansion over the site-site coupling. This modified QKE is numerically tested for its reliability by calculating the time-integrated rate and non-Markovian population kinetics. For an intermediate-to-strong dissipation strength and a large site-site coupling, the population transfer is found to be significantly different when the initial condition is changed from the local equilibrium to system-bath factorized state.