Semiclassical theory of electronically nonadiabatic dynamics: Results of a linearized approximation to the initial value representation

A linearized approximation to the semiclassical initial value representation (SC-IVR), referred to herein as the LSC-IVR, was used by us in a recent paper [J. Chem. Phys. 108, 9726 (1998)] to calculate reactive flux correlation functions for a model of a chemical reaction on a single potential energy surface. This paper shows how the LSC-IVR—which is much easier to apply than the full SC-IVR because it linearizes the phase difference between interfering classical trajectories—can be applied to electronically nonadiabatic processes, i.e., those involving transitions between different potential-energy surfaces. Applications to several model problems are presented to show its usefulness: These are the nonadiabatic scattering problems used by Tully to test surface-hopping models, and also the spin–boson model of coupled electronic states in a condensed phase environment. Though not as accurate as the full SC-IVR, the LSC-IVR does a reasonably good job for all these applications, even describing correctly Stuckelberg oscillations (interference between nonadiabatic transitions) and the transition between coherent and incoherent behavior in the spin–boson example.