Quantum dynamics on potential energy surfaces. Simpler states and simpler dynamics

In this dissertation we analyze and simplify wave functions and observables in the context of quantum molecular dynamics. The two main topics we discuss are the structure of Hagedorn wave packets in position and phase space, and semiclassical approximations for the propagation of quantum expectations with nonnegative phase space densities. We provide algorithmic discretizations for these approximations and illustrate their validity and applicability by means of numerical experiments.