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At least 1,765 records · Page 98

Coupling the core analysis program DeCART to the fuel performance application BISON

The 3D neutron transport and core analysis program DeCART was coupled to the fuels performance application BISON to provide a higher fidelity tool for fuel performance simulation. This project is motivated by the desire to couple a high fidelity core analysis program (based on the method of characteristics) to a high fidelity fuel performance program, both of which can simulate 3D problems. DeCART provides sub-pin level resolution of the multigroup neutron flux, with resonance treatment, during burnup or a fast transient. BISON implicitly solves coupled thermomechanical equations for the fuel on a sub-millimeter level finite element mesh. A method was developed for mapping the fission rate density and fast neutron flux from DeCART to BISON. Multiple depletion cases were run with one-way data transfer from DeCART to BISON. The one-way data transfer of fission rate density is shown to agree with the fission rate density obtained from an internal Lassman-style model in BISON. One-way data transfer was also demonstrated in a 3D case in which azimuthal asymmetry was induced in the fission rate density profile of a fuel rod modeled in DeCART. Two-way data transfer was established by mapping the temperature distribution from BISON to DeCART. A Picard iterative algorithm was developed for the loose coupling with two-way data transfer. (authors)

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Investigation of the effects of soluble boron tracking on coupled CTF / NEM, LWR simulations

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of introducing a boron tracking capability to the COBRA-TF / NEM code coupling. The Pennsylvania State University (PSU) versions of COBRA-TF - CTF, and Nodal Expansion Method (NEM) codes are utilized. Previous implementations of the CTF / NEM coupled code had no capability to model soluble boron feedback effects due to boron transport. This study builds upon the validation and qualification efforts of the boron tracking model implementation in CTF by modeling the boron feedback calculated by the CTF boron tracking model in NEM. The core model chosen for this study is the Purdue MOX/UO{sub 2} core model used in the 2007 OECD/NRC code benchmark study. Following the implementation of an explicit online coupling scheme and accompanying k-search routine, the newly coupled CTF / NEM code version with boron tracking is compared to prior results of the non-boron tracking CTF / NEM code version at steady-state hot full power and hot zero power conditions. It was found that the boron tracking model exhibited little influence on the hot zero power result as expected due to a smaller heat flux, which does not significantly change the moderator density and boron concentration as the moderator travels up the axial core length. Meanwhile the boron tracking model had a much greater impact on the hot full power results, predicting the critical inlet boron concentration to be 9.9 ppm below the non-boron tracking result due to greater and more rapid changes in boron concentration corresponding to the reduction in moderator density from being more rapidly heated. (authors)

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

The application of MAMMOTH for a detailed tightly coupled fuel pin simulation with a station blackout

The accurate calculation of desired quantities to predict fuel behavior in a nuclear reactor requires the solution of inter linked equations representing different physics phenomena. Traditional fuels performance codes often rely on internal empirical models for the pin power density and a simplified boundary condition on the cladding outer surface. These simplifications are performed because of the difficulty of coupling applications or codes on differing domains and mapping the required data. In this work the MAMMOTH application is employed in the demonstration of an approach that more consistent with first principles, in a simulation that couples the neutronics application Rattlesnake, the thermal fluids application RELAP-7 and the fuels performance application BISON. A single fuel pin was modeled based on the dimensions of a fuel rod from a Westinghouse 17*17 optimized PWR fuel assembly. The simulation consisted of a depletion period of 1343 days, representing three full operating cycles, followed by a station blackout (SBO) event. The fuel rod was depleted with a total pin power of 65.81 kW. After 1343 days the fission power was reduced to zero (simulating a reactor shutdown). Decay heat calculations provided the time-varying energy source after this time. For this problem, Rattlesnake, BISON, and RELAP-7 are coupled under MAMMOTH in a tightly coupled approach. Each system solves its physics on a separate mesh and, for RELAP-7 and BISON, on only a subset of the full problem domain. Rattlesnake solves the neutronics over the whole domain, which includes the fuel, cladding, gaps, water, and top and bottom rod holders. Here BISON is applied to the fuel and cladding with a 2-D axisymmetric domain, and RELAP-7 is applied to the flow of the circular outer water channel with a set of 1-D flow equations. For this work, the mesh on the Rattlesnake side is either be 3-D (for low order PN transport or diffusion) or 2-D axisymmetric (for diffusion). BISON has a matching ring structure mesh for the fuel so both the power density and local burnup are transferred accurately from Rattlesnake. At each depletion time step, Rattlesnake calculates a power density, fission density rate, burnup distribution and fast flux based on the current water density and fuel temperature. These are then mapped to the BISON mesh to perform a fuels performance solution. BISON calculates the fuel temperature and cladding surface temperature based upon the current power density and bulk fluid temperature. RELAP-7 then calculates the fluid temperature, water density fraction and water phase velocity based upon the cladding surface temperature. The fuel temperature and the fluid density are then passed back to Rattlesnake for another neutronics calculation. For this paper, sets of results from the detailed calculation are provided for both depletion and the SBO event. We demonstrate that a detailed simulation akin to first principles can be achieved using MAMMOTH and the various MOOSE application on differing domains. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Coupling CTF to MPACT for Improved Thermal-Hydraulic Feedback for Transients

As computational power and techniques continue to advance, reactor analysis codes are afforded the opportunity to employ a more detailed physics model. One area where this has manifested is with coupled neutron kinetics and thermal-hydraulics codes for transient analysis, in which the feedback is critical for accurate modeling. The Michigan Parallel Characteristics Transport (MPACT) code is a 3-D method of characteristics neutron transport code capable of generating sub-pin level power distributions being developed by the University of Michigan through the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of LWRs (CASL) program. Currently, MPACT handles thermal-hydraulic feedback with an internal 1-D radial heat transfer model assuming constant moderator temperature. While this relatively simple treatment of thermal-hydraulic feedback has been shown to accurately model transients where Doppler feedback is the dominant feedback mechanism, coupling MPACT to a detailed thermal-hydraulic code will greatly expand the range of transient problems that can be accurately modeled. COBRA-TF (CTF) is a 3-D two-phase flow, subchannel thermal-hydraulics code maintained by Penn State University through CASL. CTF is based upon the Semi-Implicit Method for Pressure-Linked Equations, and it is especially well suited to model heat transfer and fluid flow phenomena associated with a nuclear reactor through a wide range of conditions. We present an initial effort coupling MPACT to CTF for transients, which provides a wider range of transient problems that can be modeled with increased accuracy. We have successfully coupled the thermal-hydraulics code CTF to the neutronics code MPACT for transient calculations by implicit and Crank-Nicolson methods, which have been demonstrated with single pin and 3x3 configurations. This capability extends the ability of MPACT to accurately model transients through a wider range of conditions than the existing thermal-hydraulic feedback, which is severely limited by the assumption of constant moderator temperature and density. By employing CTF for the thermal- hydraulic feedback, the transient physics can be described more completely at minimal computational expense. (authors)

42 ENGINEERING↗

Comparison of subchannel and averaged channel thermal-hydraulic descriptions on coupled pin-by-pin neutronic calculations

Best-estimate transient analysis of Light Water Reactors (LWRs) requires high accuracy code systems solving neutronics (NK), thermal-hydraulics (TH) and thermal-mechanics to model the core behavior. For long time, nodal diffusion methods for solution of the transport equation using assembly size computational meshes have been applied neglecting the details within the fuel assembly, or using 'pin power reconstruction' techniques to predict those details. Moreover, the multiphysics analysis has been commonly performed coupling those neutronic diffusion methods to thermal-hydraulic system codes using a nodalization of several fuel assemblies per computational node without taking into account the effects that this type of averaging can have on the results obtained. This paper presents the work accomplished with the coupled system COBAYA4/CTF for a preliminary analysis of the effect of the different accuracy levels in the NK and TH domain. COBAYA4 is a neutronic code able to solve the diffusion equation at two resolution levels, nodal and pin by pin (PbP). CTF is a thermo-hydraulic code able to solve the coolant conservation equations also at two levels, channel (fuel assembly averaged solution) and sub-channel (real cooling channel) level. The coupled system COBAYA4/CTF is used through SALOME platform, i.e. SALOME is the software able to map conveniently the NK and TH meshes. This coupling allows combining different resolution levels for NK and TH problems. Therefore, the study of the effect of using different resolutions for the NK and TH nodalizations has been performed applying the system to a fuel assembly with selected boundary conditions. (authors)

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Application of adaptive multilevel splitting on coupled neutron-photon TRIPOLI-4{sup R} Monte Carlo simulations - 25427

In the context of radiation protection simulations, the Adaptive Multilevel Splitting (AMS) algorithm is a challenging variance reduction (VR) technique that has been recently investigated in the field of particle transport simulation. It has been implemented in the forthcoming version 11 of the Monte Carlo code TRIPOLI-4{sup R} and successfully tested in neutron-only and photon-only configurations. This paper addresses the application of the AMS algorithm to coupled simulations, and particularly to neutron-photon Monte Carlo calculations. The branching process occurring during the Monte Carlo coupled transport is taken into account in the new coupled-AMS algorithm and is explained in this paper. Two different neutron-photon configurations are then investigated, leading to a comparison of the coupled-AMS algorithm with the analog simulation on the one hand, and with the Exponential Transform (ET) on the other hand, which is the standard VR technique of TRIPOLI-4. Gains up to 30 are obtained in terms of Figure of Merit relatively to the analog simulation, which is about 4 to 6 times more efficient than the ET method for these configurations. (authors)

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗

A COUPLED DETERMINISTIC TRANSPORT CALCULATION IN COMSOL USING PROPER ORTHOGONAL DECOMPOSITION

A coupled physics problem consisting of radiation transport and heat transfer was modeled using COMSOL Multiphysics to simulate a criticality accident. Reduced order models (ROM) were created to accelerate the radiation transport calculation through Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD). Additionally, on-the-fly neutron cross sections were generated from a non-linear function through a feed forward neural network. The Livelink for MATLAB module allowed for data transfer between an otherwise independent solver and in-house modules. A data driven approach to POD was developed to act as a surrogate model to couple with heat transfer, with the POD module written in MATLAB coupled to an isolated heat transfer solve in COMSOL. A coupled transient solution resulted in a good approximation of the flux and temperature, with the maximum error being 3E-2 and 2.5E-3 respectively.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Coupling Microstructural Evolution Simulations to Material Property Degradation Predictions for Plasma-Facing Materials

Reliable material performance is required for plasma-facing material (PFM) candidates. Previous research has shown that plasma and neutron radiation exposure induces microstructural changes in PFMs; changes in thermal and electrical conductivities and in material hardening and embrittlement were also observed after neutron irradiation. These material property changes will negatively impact the performance of the PFMs in a fusion reactor. Despite the well-known connection between material microstructure, properties, and performance, there is a need for validated modeling capabilities connecting PFM property degradation with microstructural evolution under fusion-relevant conditions. We are developing a simulation capability to couple plasma-induced microstructural evolution to material property degradation. Our approach relies on deliberate mapping between individual simulation models and experimental characterization for validation. The open-source Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) software was used for this simulation capability development. A MOOSE phase-field model was coupled with the cluster dynamics code, Xolotl, to predict microstructural evolution. Microstructure characterization techniques, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM) are used to validate these microstructural evolution simulations. Calculation of thermal and electrical conductivities with first principles simulations was performed for bulk material and for grain boundaries; these results are used within MOOSE models to calculate effective thermal and electrical conductivities as a function of grain characteristics. Thermoreflectance and four-probe techniques were employed to measure the thermal and electrical conductivities, respectively. A MOOSE crystal plasticity model was adapted to predict microstructure-sensitive deformation behavior, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to collect bulk dislocation density data for validation. After individual simulation validation, these models are coupled to predict material property changes resulting from plasma exposure. We focused here on an experimental design to emphasize the separate effects of moderate thermal loads and plasma exposure using tungsten. Annealing of tungsten was performed under a protective environment for temperatures ranging from 500 C to 1500 C. The plasma exposure was completed in the Tritium Plasma Experiment at Idaho National Laboratory under a deuterium flux of 1e22 D/m^2-s. This incremental approach is employed to build confidence in the modeling capability: separate-effects tests ensure that the models capture key mechanisms from single environmental conditions before predicting PFM property degradation under combined loads. We will show our early results from coupling these simulation models to predict PFM property changes from microstructural evolution. Comparisons of the simulation results with preliminary validation data will be discussed.

36 - MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Superposed periodic kink and pulse solutions of coupled nonlinear equations

Here, we present novel previously unexplored periodic solutions, expressed in terms of Jacobi elliptic functions, for both a coupled Φ 4 model and a coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLS) model. Remarkably, these solutions can be elegantly reformulated as a linear combination of periodic kinks and antikinks, or as a combination of two periodic kinks or two periodic pulse solutions. However, we also find that for $m=0$ and a specific value of the periodicity (or at a nonzero value of the elliptic modulus $m$) this superposition does not hold. These results demonstrate that the notion of superposed solutions extends to the coupled nonlinear equations as well.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Study of Self-Interaction Errors in Density Functional Calculations of Magnetic Exchange Coupling Constants Using Three Self-Interaction Correction Methods

We examine the role of self-interaction errors (SIE) removal on the evaluation of magnetic exchange coupling constants. In particular we analyze the effect of scaling down the self-interaction-correction (SIC) for three non-empirical density functional approximations (DFAs) namely, the local spin density approximation, the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof generalized gradient approximation, and recent SCAN family of meta-GGA functionals. To this end, we employ three one-electron SIC methods: Perdew-Zunger [Perdew, J. P.; Zunger, A. Phys. Rev. B, 1981, 23, 5048] SIC, the orbitalwise scaled SIC method [Vydrov, O. A. et al., J. Chem. Phys. 2006, 124, 094108], and the recent local scaling method [Zope, R. R. et al., J. Chem. Phys. 2019, 151, 214108]. We compute the magnetic exchange coupling constants using the spin projection and non projection approaches for sets of molecules composed of dinuclear and polynuclear H-He models, organic radical molecules, and chlorocuprate, and compare these results against accurate theories and experiment. Our results show that for the systems that mainly consist of single electron regions, PZSIC performs well but for more complex organic systems and the chlorcuprates, an overcorrecting tendency of PZSIC combined with the DFAs utilized in this work is more pronounced, and in such cases LSIC with kinetic energy density ratio performs better than PZSIC. Furthermore, analysis of the results in terms of SIC corrections to the density and to the total energy shows that both density and energy correction are required to obtain an improved prediction of magnetic exchange couplings.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

COLUMBUS─An Efficient and General Program Package for Ground and Excited State Computations Including Spin–Orbit Couplings and Dynamics

The COLUMBUS program system provides the tools for performing high-level multireference (MR) computations, including the multireference configuration interaction (MRCI) method and its multireference averaged quadratic coupled cluster (MR-AQCC) extension, allowing computations on a wide range of fascinating atomic and molecular systems, including the treatment of open-shells and complicated excited state phenomena. The inclusion of spin−orbit coupling (SOC) directly within the MRCI step enables the description of systems containing heavy elements, such as lanthanides and actinides, whose properties are strongly influenced by SOC. Analytic energy gradients and nonadiabatic couplings at the correlated MRCI level provide the foundation for a variety of dynamics studies, giving insight into ultrafast photochemistry. New and ongoing method developments in COLUMBUS include the computation of spin densities, improved descriptions of ionic states, enhancements to the AQCC method, and the porting of COLUMBUS to graphical processing units (GPUs). New external interfaces enable an enhanced description of electronic resonances and molecules in strong laser fields. This work highlights these new developments while providing a detailed account of the diverse applications of COLUMBUS in recent years.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Charge Delocalization and Vibronic Couplings in Quadrupolar Squaraine Dyes

Squaraines are prototypical quadrupolar charge-transfer chromophores that have recently attracted much attention as building blocks for solution-processed photovoltaics, fluorescent probes with large two-photon absorption cross sections, and aggregates with large circular dichroism. Their optical properties are often rationalized in terms of phenomenological essential state models, considering the coupling of two zwitterionic excited states to a neutral ground state. As a result, optical transitions to the lowest S 1 excited state are one-photon allowed, whereas the next higher S 2 state can only be accessed by two-photon transitions. A further implication of these models is a substantial reduction of vibronic coupling to the ubiquitous high-frequency vinyl-stretching modes of organic materials. Here, in this study, we combine time-resolved vibrational spectroscopy, two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy, and quantum-chemical simulations to test and rationalize these predictions for nonaggregated molecules. We find small Huang–Rhys factors below 0.01 for the high-frequency, 1500 cm –1 modes in particular, as well as a noticeable reduction for those of lower frequency modes in general for the electronic S 0 → S 1 transition. The two-photon allowed state S 2 is well separated energetically from S 1 and has weak vibronic signatures as well. Thus, the resulting pronounced concentration of the oscillator strength in a narrow region relevant to the lowest electronic transition makes squaraines and their aggregates exceptionally interesting for strong and ultrastrong coupling of excitons to localized light modes in external resonators with chiral properties that can largely be controlled by the molecular architecture.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Orbital dependent Rashba splitting and electron-phonon coupling of 2D Bi phase on Cu(100) surface

A monolayer of bismuth deposited on the Cu(100) surface forms a highly ordered c(2×2) reconstructed phase. The low energy single particle excitations of the c(2×2) Bi/Cu(100) present Bi-induced states with a parabolic dispersion in the energy region close to the Fermi level, as observed by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. The electronic state dispersion, the charge density localization, and the spin-orbit coupling have been investigated combining photoemission spectroscopy and density functional theory, unraveling a two-dimensional Bi phase with charge density well localized at the interface. The Bi-induced states present a Rashba splitting, when the charge density is strongly localized in the Bi plane. Furthermore, the temperature dependence of the spectral density close to the Fermi level has been evaluated. Dispersive electronic states offer a large number of decay channels for transitions coupled to phonons and the strength of the electron-phonon coupling for the Bi/Cu(100) system is shown to be stronger than for Bi surfaces and to depend on the electronic state symmetry and localization.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Ultrastrong light-matter coupling in electrically doped microcavity organic light emitting diodes

The coupling of the electromagnetic field with an electronic transition gives rise, for strong enough light-matter interactions, to hybrid states called exciton-polaritons. When the energy exchanged between light and matter becomes a significant fraction of the material transition energy an extreme optical regime called ultrastrong coupling (USC) is achieved. We report a microcavity embedded p-i-n monolithic organic light emitting diode working in USC, employing a thin film of squaraine dye as active layer. A normalized coupling ratio of 30% has been achieved at room temperature. These USC devices exhibit a dispersion-less angle-resolved electroluminescence that can be exploited for the realization of innovative optoelectronic devices. Our results may open the way towards electrically pumped polariton lasers.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Extended Fourier-transform spectroscopy studies and deperturbation analysis of the spin-orbit coupled A{sup 1}Σ{sup +} and b{sup 3}Π states in RbCs

The article presents a study of the strongly spin-orbit coupled singlet A{sup 1}Σ{sup +} and triplet b{sup 3}Π states of the RbCs molecule, which provide an efficient optical path to transfer ultracold molecules to their rovibrational ground state. Fourier-transform A{sup 1}Σ{sup +} − b{sup 3}Π → X{sup 1}Σ{sup +} and (4){sup 1}Σ{sup +} → A{sup 1}Σ{sup +} − b{sup 3}Π laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) spectra were recorded for the natural mixture of the {sup 85}Rb{sup 133}Cs and {sup 87}Rb{sup 133}Cs isotopologues produced in a heat pipe oven. Overall 8730 rovibronic term values of A{sup 1}Σ{sup +} and b{sup 3}Π states were determined with an uncertainty of 0.01 cm{sup −1} in the energy range [9012, 14087] cm{sup −1}, covering rotational quantum numbers J ∈ [6, 324]. An energy-based deperturbation analysis performed in the framework of the four A{sup 1}Σ{sup +} − b{sup 3}Π{sub Ω=0,1,2} coupled-channels approach reproduces 97% of the experimental term values of both isotopologues with a standard deviation of 0.0036 cm{sup −1}. The reliability of the deperturbed mass-invariant potentials and spin-orbit coupling functions of the interacting A{sup 1}Σ{sup +} and b{sup 3}Π states is additionally proved by a good reproduction of the A − b → X and (4){sup 1}Σ{sup +} → A − b relative intensity distributions. The achieved accuracy of the A − b complex description allowed us to use the latter to assign the observed (5){sup 1}Σ{sup +} → A − b and (3){sup 1}Π → A − b transitions. As is demonstrated, LIF to the A − b complex becomes as informative as to the ground X{sup 1}Σ{sup +} state, which is confirmed by comparing the results of (4){sup 1}Σ{sup +} state analysis based on (4){sup 1}Σ{sup +} → A − b LIF with the data from V. Zuters et al. [Phys. Rev. A 87, 022504 (2013)] based on (4){sup 1}Σ{sup +} → X LIF.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Electron-phonon coupling in superconducting β-PdBi{sub 2}

We have studied the electronic, transport and vibrational properties of low temperature superconductor β-PdBi{sub 2}. The band manifold clearly demonstrates the 2D-layered structure with multiple gaps. The intersection of bands at E{sub F} in the Γ-P, Γ-N directions gives rise to complicated Fermi surface topology, which contains quite complicated multiple connected sheets, as well as hole and electron-like pockets. From the low temperature specific heat, we have estimated the electron-phonon coupling constant λ{sub el-ph} which has a very high value of 3.66. The vibrational properties clearly illustrates that the strong coupling makes the lattice unstable. The calculated properties confirm that β-PdBi{sub 2} is an intermediate coupling superconductor.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Fourier-transform spectroscopy and deperturbation analysis of the spin-orbit coupled A{sup 1}Σ{sup +} and b{sup 3}Π states of KRb

Fourier-transform A{sup 1}Σ{sup +} − b{sup 3}Π → X{sup 1}Σ{sup +} laser-induced fluorescence spectra were recorded for the natural mixture of {sup 39,41}K{sup 85,87}Rb isotopologues produced in a heatpipe oven. Overall 4200 rovibronic term values of the spin-orbit coupled A{sup 1}Σ{sup +} and b{sup 3}Π states were determined with an uncertainty of about 0.01 cm{sup −1} in the energy range [10 850, 14 200] cm{sup −1} covering rotational quantum numbers J′ ∈ [3, 280]. Direct deperturbation analysis of the A ∼ b complex performed within the framework of the A{sup 1}Σ{sup +} ∼ b{sup 3}Π{sub Ω=0,1,2} coupled-channel approach reproduced experimental data with a standard deviation of 0.004 cm{sup −1}. Initial parameters of the internuclear potentials and spin-orbit coupling functions along with the relevant transition dipole moments were obtained by performing the quasi-relativistic electronic structure calculations. The mass-invariant molecular parameters obtained from the fit were used to predict energy and radiative properties of the A ∼ b complex for low J levels of {sup 39}K{sup 85}Rb as well as for {sup 41}K{sup 87}Rb isotopologues, allowing us to identify the most reasonable candidates for the stimulated Raman transitions between the initial uppermost vibrational levels of the a{sup 3}Σ{sup +} and X{sup 1}Σ{sup +} states, the intermediate levels of the A ∼ b complex, and the lowest absolute ground X{sup 1}Σ{sup +}(v = 0, J = 0) state.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

A variational master equation approach to quantum dynamics with off-diagonal coupling in a sub-Ohmic environment

A master equation approach based on an optimized polaron transformation is adopted for dynamics simulation with simultaneous diagonal and off-diagonal spin-boson coupling. Two types of bath spectral density functions are considered, the Ohmic and the sub-Ohmic. The off-diagonal coupling leads asymptotically to a thermal equilibrium with a nonzero population difference P{sub z}(t → ∞) ≠ 0, which implies localization of the system, and it also plays a role in restraining coherent dynamics for the sub-Ohmic case. Since the new method can extend to the stronger coupling regime, we can investigate the coherent-incoherent transition in the sub-Ohmic environment. Relevant phase diagrams are obtained for different temperatures. It is found that the sub-Ohmic environment allows coherent dynamics at a higher temperature than the Ohmic environment.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗