Quantum Dynamics in Many-Body Systems

Columbia University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

Philip Pechukas of Columbia University is supported by the Theoretical and Computational Chemistry Program to explore analytical and computational aspects of quantum dynamics in many-body systems. Equilibrium time correlation functions, which contain all the information needed to describe the dynamics of systems sufficiently close to thermal equilibrium, are difficult to calculate. In the first project, imaginary time calculations will be extended with the aim of enabling accurate evaluation of quantum time correlation functions. In the second project, development of a quantum analog of the Smoluchlowski equation will be explored. Also, an entire class of quantum Brownian motion models will be examined. In the final two projects, the effects of various kinds of correlated initial conditions on system dynamics will be studied, and a quantum approach to the fluctuating barrier model will be initiated. The description and simulation of complex chemical processes at very accurate levels requires the application of quantum mechanics, specifically the quantum dynamics of many-body systems. This research addresses a number of issues in the basic theory of quantum dynamics, including rates of decay to chemical equilibrium and kinetic processes inside a fluctuating protein.