Making ab initio QED functional(s): Non-perturbative and photon-free effective frameworks for strong light-matter coupling

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Schäfer, Christian, Buchholz, Florian, Penz, Markus, Ruggenthaler, Michael, Rubio, Angel
Format: Preprint
Published: 2021
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author Schäfer, Christian
Buchholz, Florian
Penz, Markus
Ruggenthaler, Michael
Rubio, Angel
author_facet Schäfer, Christian
Buchholz, Florian
Penz, Markus
Ruggenthaler, Michael
Rubio, Angel
contents Strong light-matter coupling provides a promising path for the control of quantum matter where the latter is routinely described from first-principles. However, combining the quantized nature of light with this ab initio tool set is challenging and merely developing, as the coupled light-matter Hilbert space is conceptually different and computational cost quickly becomes overwhelming. In this work, we provide a non-perturbative photon-free formulation of quantum electrodynamics (QED) in the long-wavelength limit, which is formulated solely on the matter Hilbert space and can serve as an accurate starting point for such ab initio methods. The present formulation is an extension of quantum mechanics that recovers the exact results of QED for the zero- and infinite-coupling limit, the infinite-frequency as well as the homogeneous limit and we can constructively increase its accuracy. We show how this formulation can be used to devise approximations for quantum-electrodynamical density-functional theory (QEDFT), which in turn also allows to extend the ansatz to the full minimal-coupling problem and to non-adiabatic situations. Finally, we provide a simple local-density-type functional that takes the strong coupling to the transverse photon-degrees of freedom into account and includes the correct frequency and polarization dependence. This is the first QEDFT functional that accounts for the quantized nature of light while remaining computationally simple enough to allow its application to a large range of systems. All approximations allow the seamless application to periodic systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2106_07507
institution arXiv
publishDate 2021
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Making ab initio QED functional(s): Non-perturbative and photon-free effective frameworks for strong light-matter coupling
Schäfer, Christian
Buchholz, Florian
Penz, Markus
Ruggenthaler, Michael
Rubio, Angel
Quantum Physics
Strong light-matter coupling provides a promising path for the control of quantum matter where the latter is routinely described from first-principles. However, combining the quantized nature of light with this ab initio tool set is challenging and merely developing, as the coupled light-matter Hilbert space is conceptually different and computational cost quickly becomes overwhelming. In this work, we provide a non-perturbative photon-free formulation of quantum electrodynamics (QED) in the long-wavelength limit, which is formulated solely on the matter Hilbert space and can serve as an accurate starting point for such ab initio methods. The present formulation is an extension of quantum mechanics that recovers the exact results of QED for the zero- and infinite-coupling limit, the infinite-frequency as well as the homogeneous limit and we can constructively increase its accuracy. We show how this formulation can be used to devise approximations for quantum-electrodynamical density-functional theory (QEDFT), which in turn also allows to extend the ansatz to the full minimal-coupling problem and to non-adiabatic situations. Finally, we provide a simple local-density-type functional that takes the strong coupling to the transverse photon-degrees of freedom into account and includes the correct frequency and polarization dependence. This is the first QEDFT functional that accounts for the quantized nature of light while remaining computationally simple enough to allow its application to a large range of systems. All approximations allow the seamless application to periodic systems.
title Making ab initio QED functional(s): Non-perturbative and photon-free effective frameworks for strong light-matter coupling
topic Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2106.07507