On phase/current components of entropy/information descriptors of molecular states

Abstract

Quantum-generalised descriptors of the information content of electronic states in molecules are proposed, in which non-classical (current) terms complement classical (probability) functionals of the ordinary information theory. The relation between densities of the familiar classical Fisher and Shannon information/entropy measures is applied to determine their non-classical complements. The quantum supplement of the classical Shannon entropy describes the average magnitude of the phase distribution, while the current term in the Fisher measure accounts for the gradient content of the state phase function. Illustrative applications of these quantum information concepts are presented and thermodynamical analogies are commented upon. The particle-density-constrained (vertical) and -unconstrained (horizontal) equilibria in molecules and their fragments are explored and the corresponding equilibrium ‘thermodynamic’ phases are determined. A separation of the density (modulus) and current (phase) factors of general many-electron states is effected using the Harriman–Zumbach–Maschke construction of antisymmetric states yielding the specified electron density. The phenomenological framework in spirit of the non-equilibrium thermodynamical description is proposed. It accounts for both the density and current degrees of freedom of molecular states. The associated entropy source in the information continuity equation is derived.