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arXiv · 1806.04662

Ehrenfest+R Dynamics I: A Mixed Quantum-Classical Electrodynamics Simulation of Spontaneous Emission

Abstract

The dynamics of an electronic system interacting with an electromagnetic field is investigated within mixed quantum-classical theory. Beyond the classical path approximation (where we ignore all feedback from the electronic system on the photon field), we consider all electron-photon interactions explicitly according to Ehrenfest (i.e. mean-field) dynamics and a set of coupled Maxwell-Liouville equations. Because Ehrenfest dynamics cannot capture certain quantum features of the photon field correctly, we propose a new Ehrenfest+R method that can recover (by construction) spontaneous emission while also distinguishing between electromagnetic fluctuations and coherent emission.

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Hsing-Ta Chen, Tao E. Li, Maxim Sukharev, Abraham Nitzan, Joseph E. Subotnik. 2018-09-12. Ehrenfest+R Dynamics I: A Mixed Quantum-Classical Electrodynamics Simulation of Spontaneous Emission. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5057365

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