Nonadiabatic relaxation dynamics of water anion cluster and its isotope effects by ring‐polymer molecular dynamics simulation

We have applied a recently developed hybrid quantum ring‐polymer molecular dynamics method to the nonadiabatic p → s relaxation dynamics in water anion clusters to understand the isotope effects observed in previous experiments. The average relaxation times for (H₂O)₅₀^? and (D₂O)₅₀^? were calculated at 120 and 207 fs, respectively, and are comparable to the experimental results. Therefore, we conclude that nuclear quantum effects play an essential role in understanding the observed isotope effects for water anion cluster nonadiabatic dynamics. The nonadiabatic relaxation mechanisms are also discussed in detail. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.