Finite temperature vibronic spectra of harmonic surfaces: a time-dependent coupled cluster approach

An algorithm to compute vibronic spectra of harmonic surfaces including Dushinsky rotation and Hertzberg–Teller terms is described. The method, inspired by thermo field dynamics, maps the thermal density matrix onto the vacuum state and uses the time-dependent coupled cluster ansatz to propagate it in time. In the Franck–Condon approximation where the dipole matrix elements are taken to be constants, this reduces to the auto correlation function of the new vacuum. In the Hertzberg–Teller approximation, the full time evolution operator is needed. This too is governed by a closed set of equations. The theoretical development is presented along with an application to anthracene.