Iterative Decomposition of the Path Integral for a System Coupled to an Anharmonic Environment
As discussed in the context of the linear response approximation derived in the context of a cumulant expansion of the influence functional, arguments similar to those employed in the path integral methodology for quantum dissipative systems lead to an iterative decomposition of the path integral even with anharmonic, fully coupled condensed phase environments. In this case, the effective system propagator is obtained from the values of the influence functional for appropriate configurations of forward and backward system path segments that span the relevant memory length.
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