Diffusion Rates for Hydrogen on Pd(111) from Molecular Quantum Dynamics Calculations

Diffusion rates are calculated on the basis of van Hove's formula for the dynamical structure factor (DSF) related to particle scattering at mobile adsorbates. The formula is evaluated quantum mechanically using eigenfunctions obtained from three dimensional realistic models for H/Pd(111) derived from first principle calculations. Results are compatible with experimental data for H/Ru(0001) and H/Pt(111), if one assumes that the total rate obtained from the DSF is the sum of a diffusion and a friction rate. A simple kinetic model to support this assumption is presented.Comment: 11 pages including 4 figures and 1 tabl

Monitoring the Birth of an Electronic Wavepacket in a Neutral Molecule with Attosecond Time-Resolved Photoelectron Spectroscopy

Numerical simulations are presented to validate the possible use of cutting-edge attosecond time- resolved photoelectron spectroscopy to observe in real time the creation of an electronic wavepacket and subsequent electronic motion in a neutral molecule photoexcited by a UV pump pulse within a few femtoseconds

State-To-State Inelastic Rotational Cross Sections in Five-Atom Systems with the Multiconfiguration Time Dependent Hartree Method

We present a MultiConfiguration Time Dependent Hartree (MCTDH) method as an attractive alternative approach to the usual quantum close-coupling method that approaches some computational limits in the calculation of rotational excitation (and de-excitation) between polyatomic molecules (here collisions between triatomic and diatomic rigid molecules). We have performed a computational investigation of the rotational (de-)excitation of the benchmark rigid rotor H2O-H2 system on a recently developed Potential Energy Surface of the complex using the MCTDH method. We focus here on excitations and de-excitations from the 000, 111, and 110 states of H2O with H2 in its ground rotational state, looking at all the potential transitions in the energy range 1-200 cm-1. This work follows a recently completed study on the H2O-H2 cluster where we characterized its spectroscopy and more generally serves a broader goal to describe inelastic collision processes of high dimensional systems using the MCTDH method. We find that the cross sections obtained from the MCTDH calculations are in excellent agreement with time independent calculations from previous studies but does become challenging for the lower kinetic energy range of the de-excitation process: that is, below approximately 20 cm-1 of collision energy, calculations with a relative modest basis become unreliable. The MCTDH method therefore appears to be a useful complement to standard approaches to study inelastic collision for various collision partners, even at low energy, though performing better for rotational excitation than for de-excitation

The coupling of the hydrated proton to its first solvation shell

The transfer of a hydrated proton between water molecules in aqueous solution is accompanied by the large-scale structural reorganization of the environment as the proton relocates, giving rise to the Grotthus mechanism. The Zundel (H5O2+) and Eigen (H9O4+) cations are the main intermediate structures in this process. They exhibit radically different gas-phase infrared (IR) spectra, indicating fundamentally different environments of the solvated proton in its first solvation shell. The question arises: is there a least common denominator structure that explains the IR spectra of the Zundel and Eigen cations, and hence of the solvated proton? Full dimensional quantum simulations of these protonated cations demonstrate that two dynamical water molecules embedded in the static environment of the parent Eigen cation constitute this fundamental subunit. It is sufficient to explain the spectral signatures and anharmonic couplings of the solvated proton in its first solvation shell. In particular, we identify the anharmonic vibrational modes that explain the large broadening of the proton transfer peak in the experimental IR spectrum of the Eigen cation, of which the origin remained so far unclear. Our findings about the quantum mechanical structure of the first solvation shell provide a starting point for further investigations of the larger protonated water clusters with second and additional solvation shells.Comment: main article with 4 figures, methods, and supporting informatio

Intermolecular rovibrational bound states of H2O–H2 dimer from a multiconfiguration time dependent Hartree approach

We compute the rovibrational eigenstates of the H2O–H2 Van der Waals complex using the accurate rigid-rotor potential energy surface of Valiron et al. (2008) with the MultiConfiguration Time Dependent Hartree (MCTDH) method. The J=0–2 rovibrational bound states calculations are done with the Block Improved Relaxation procedure of MCTDH and the subsequent assignment of the states is achieved by inspection of the wavefunctions’ properties. The results of this work are found to be in close agreement with previous time independent calculations reported for this complex and therefore supports the use of the MCTDH approach for the rovibrational spectroscopic study of such weakly bound complexes

Comparison of the multi-layer multi-configuration time-dependent Hartree (ML-MCTDH) method and the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) for ground state properties of linear rotor chains

This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. This article appeared in Mainali, S., Gatti, F., Iouchtchenko, D., Roy, P.-N., & Meyer, H.-D. (2021). Comparison of the multi-layer multi-configuration time-dependent Hartree (ML-MCTDH) method and the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) for ground state properties of linear rotor chains. The Journal of Chemical Physics, 154(17), 174106. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0047090 and may be found at https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0047090We demonstrate the applicability of the Multi-Layer Multi-Configuration Time-Dependent Hartree (ML-MCTDH) method to the problem of computing ground states of one-dimensional chains of linear rotors with dipolar interactions. Specifically, we successfully obtain energies, entanglement entropies, and orientational correlations that are in agreement with the Density Matrix Renormalization Group (DMRG), which has been previously used for this system. We find that the entropies calculated by ML-MCTDH for larger system sizes contain nonmonotonicity, as expected in the vicinity of a second-order quantum phase transition between ordered and disordered rotor states. We observe that this effect remains when all couplings besides nearest-neighbor are omitted from the Hamiltonian, which suggests that it is not sensitive to the rate of decay of the interactions. In contrast to DMRG, which is tailored to the one-dimensional case, ML-MCTDH (as implemented in the Heidelberg MCTDH package) requires more computational time and memory, although the requirements are still within reach of commodity hardware. The numerical convergence and computational demand of two practical implementations of ML-MCTDH and DMRG are presented in detail for various combinations of system parameters.Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Grant RGPIN-2016-04403 || Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation (MRI) || Canada Research Chair program, Grant 950-231024 || Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), Grant 35232 || Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF

Quantum effects in ultrafast electron transfers in cytochrome

peer reviewe

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements