Correlation functions in quantized Hamilton dynamics and quantal cumulant dynamics

Quantized Hamilton dynamics (QHD) [O. V. Prezhdo and Y. V. Pereverzev, J. Chem. Phys. 113, 6557 (2000)] and quantal cumulant dynamics (QCD) [Shigeta et al., J. Chem. Phys. 125, 244102 (2006)] are used to obtain a semiclassical description of two-time correlation functions (CFs). Generally, lower-order CFs couple to higher-order CFs. The infinite hierarchy is terminated by a closure, which neglects higher-order irreducible correlators and provides an efficient approximation to quantum mechanics. The approach is illustrated with a simple nonlinear system, for which the real part of the classical CF continues a perfect oscillation and the imaginary part is identically zero. At little computational expense, the second-order QHD/QCD approximation reproduces the real and imaginary parts of the quantum-mechanical CF. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.