Time-dependent treatment of scattering. II. Novel integral equation approach to quantum wave packets

Abstract

The time-dependent form of the Lippmann–Schwinger integral equation is used as the basis for a novel wave-packet propagation scheme. The method has the advantage over a previous integral equation treatment in that it does not require extensive matrix inversions involving the potential. This feature will be important when applications are made to systems where in some degrees of freedom the potential is expressed in a basis expansion. As was the case for the previous treatment, noniterated and iterated versions of the equations are given; the iterated equations, which are much simpler in the present new scheme than in the old, eliminate a matrix inversion that is required for solving the earlier noniterated equations. In the present noniterated equations, the matrix to be inverted is a function of the kinetic energy operator and thus is diagonal in a Bessel function basis set (or a sine basis set, if the centrifugal potential operator is incorporated into an effective potential). Transition amplitudes for various orbital angular momentum quantum numbers can be obtained from: (1) Fourier transform of the amplitude density from the time to the energy domain, and (2) direct analysis of the scattered wave packet. The approach is illustrated by an application to a standard potential scattering model problem.