Cavity Born-Oppenheimer Approximation for Correlated Electron-Nuclear-Photon Systems

Area of Science:

• Quantum Chemistry
• Quantum Optics
• Light-Matter Interactions

Background:

• Correlated electron-nuclear-photon systems present significant theoretical challenges.
• Existing methods struggle to fully capture the complexity of these interactions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To detail the cavity Born-Oppenheimer approximation for quantum light-matter systems.
• To demonstrate its capability in describing eigenstates and dynamics.

Main Methods:

• Expansion in conditional electronic and photon-nuclear wave functions.
• Application to a GaAs quantum ring model and a vibrational transition model.
• Time-dependent simulations to study system dynamics.

Main Results:

• The cavity Born-Oppenheimer approximation accurately describes eigenstates.
• A GaAs quantum ring model showed a double-well potential and split electronic density.
• A vibrational transition model exhibited a splitting in the excited-state potential energy surface.

Conclusions:

• The cavity Born-Oppenheimer approximation provides a robust framework for correlated light-matter systems.
• This approach enables accurate ab initio descriptions of matter-photon interactions.
• It opens new avenues for studying quantum phenomena in hybrid systems.