Dynamical pruning of the multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree method (DP-MCTDH): An efficient approach for multidimensional quantum dynamics

We present two strategies for combining dynamical pruning with the multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree method (DP-MCTDH), where dynamical pruning means on-the-fly selection of relevant basis functions. The first strategy prunes the primitive basis that represents the single-particle functions (SPFs). This is useful for smaller systems that require many primitive basis functions per degree of freedom, as we will illustrate for NO$_2$. Furthermore, this allows for higher-dimensional mode combination and partially lifts the sum-of-product-form requirement onto the structure of the Hamiltonian, as we illustrate for nonadiabatic 24-dimensional pyrazine. The second strategy prunes the set of configurations of SPF at each time step. We show that this strategy yields significant speed-ups with factors between 5 and 50 in computing time, making it competitive with the multilayer MCTDH method.