Multistate multimode vibronic dynamics: entanglement of electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom in the benzene radical cation

An earlier theoretical treatment of multimode and multistate vibronic coupling in the benzene radical cation Koppel et al., J. Chem. Phys. 117, 2657 (2002)] is extended to investigate also the behavior of the nuclear degrees of freedom and to include additional electronic states. The five lowest doublet electronic states are considered which have been shown earlier to be all interconnected through a series of conical intersections of their potential-energy surfaces. In the most extensive calculations, they are all included simultaneously in the quantum dynamical calculations performed, which represent a system of unprecedented complexity treated in this way. The results are compared with various reduced-dimensionality treatments (i.e., employing reduced vibrational and electronic function spaces). The different temporal behavior of the various electronic populations is emphasized and traced to the different locations of the various seams of conical intersections: due to the coherent oscillations of the time-dependent wave packet this leads to an oscillatory behavior in some cases and to monotonous behavior in others. A seemingly irreversible behavior of the system dynamics in this strictly microscopic treatment is confirmed. The importance of this benchmark system to highlight complex, entangled multimode, and multistate vibronic dynamics is pointed out.