Incorporating Berry Force Effects into the Fewest Switches Surface-Hopping Algorithm: Intersystem Crossing and the Case of Electronic Degeneracy

We present a preliminary surface-hopping approach for modeling intersystem crossing (ISC) dynamics between four electronic states: one singlet and one (triply degenerate) triplet. In order to incorporate all Berry force effects, the algorithm requires that, when moving along an adiabatic surface associated with the triplet manifold, one must also keep track of a quasi-diabatic index (akin to a "m_s" quantum number) for each trajectory. For a simple model problem, we find that a great deal of new physics can be captured by our algorithm, setting the stage for larger, more realistic (or perhaps even ab initio) simulations in the future.