Total angular momentum conservation in Ehrenfest dynamics with a truncated basis of adiabatic states.

We show that standard Ehrenfest dynamics does not conserve linear and angular momentum when using a basis of truncated adiabatic states. However, we also show that previously proposed effective Ehrenfest equations of motion [M. Amano and K. Takatsuka, "Quantum fluctuation of electronic wave-packet dynamics coupled with classical nuclear motions," J. Chem. Phys. 122, 084113 (2005) and V. Krishna, "Path integral formulation for quantum nonadiabatic dynamics and the mixed quantum classical limit," J. Chem. Phys. 126, 134107 (2007)] involving the non-Abelian Berry force do maintain momentum conservation. As a numerical example, we investigate the Kramers doublet of the methoxy radical using generalized Hartree-Fock with spin-orbit coupling and confirm that angular momentum is conserved with the proper equations of motion. Our work makes clear some of the limitations of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation when using ab initio electronic structure theory to treat systems with unpaired electronic spin degrees of freedom, and we demonstrate that Ehrenfest dynamics can offer much improved, qualitatively correct results.