Dynamics of resonant energy transfer in OH vibrations of liquid water

Abstract

Energy transfer dynamics of excited vibrational energy of OH stretching bonds in liquid water is theoretically studied. With time-dependent vibrational Hamiltonian obtained from a mixed quantum/classical calculation, we construct a master equation describing the energy transfer dynamics. Survival probability predicted by the master equation is compared with numerically exact one and we found that incoherent picture of energy transfer is reasonably valid for long-time population dynamics. Within the incoherent picture, we assess the validity of independent pair approximation (IPA) often introduced in the theoretical models utilized in the analysis of experimental data. Our results support that the IPA is almost perfectly valid as applied for the vibrational energy transfer in liquid water. However, proper incorporation of radial and orientational correlations between two OH bonds is found to be critical for a theory to be quantitatively valid. Consequently, it is suggested that the Förster model should be generalized by including the effects of the pair correlations in order to be applied for vibrational energy transfer in liquid water.