A new semiclassical “divide-and-conquer” method is presented with the aim of demonstrating that quantum dynamics simulations of high dimensional molecular systems are doable. The method is first tested by calculating the quantum vibrational power spectra of water, methane, and benzene—three molecules of increasing dimensionality for which benchmark quantum results are available—and then applied to ${\mathrm{C}}_{60}$, a system characterized by 174 vibrational degrees of freedom. Results show that the approach can accurately account for quantum anharmonicities, purely quantum features like overtones, and the removal of degeneracy when the molecular symmetry is broken.

• Received 16 January 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.010401