Abstract
Recently, time-dependent current-density-functional theory has been extended to includethe dynamical interaction of quantum systems with external environments (Di Ventra andD’Agosta 2007 Phys. Rev. Lett. 98 226403). Here we show that such a theory allows us tostudy a fundamentally important class of phenomena previously inaccessible by standarddensity-functional methods: the decay of excited systems. As an example we study thedecay of an ensemble of excited He atoms, and discuss these results in the context ofquantum measurement theory.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have