Density matrix theory of dissipative wave packet dynamics

Abstract

We demonstrate the applicability of the density matrix approach to describe dissipative effects like dephasing and relaxation on the dynamics of vibrational wave packets. As a simple example we study a single excess electron or exciton in a dimer system with a single interaction coordinate coupling to the electronic state. The other molecular vibrations constitute the dissipative environment which is assumed to be in thermal equilibrium. We compare the dissipative dynamics of two distinct initial wave packets for different effective damping rates.