Mapping variable ring polymer molecular dynamics: a path-integral based method for nonadiabatic processes.

We introduce mapping-variable ring polymer molecular dynamics (MV-RPMD), a model dynamics for the direct simulation of multi-electron processes. An extension of the RPMD idea, this method is based on an exact, imaginary time path-integral representation of the quantum Boltzmann operator using continuous Cartesian variables for both electronic states and nuclear degrees of freedom. We demonstrate the accuracy of the MV-RPMD approach in calculations of real-time, thermal correlation functions for a range of two-state single-mode model systems with different coupling strengths and asymmetries. Further, we show that the ensemble of classical trajectories employed in these simulations preserves the Boltzmann distribution and provides a direct probe into real-time coupling between electronic state transitions and nuclear dynamics.