An efficient self-consistent field method for large systems of weakly interacting components

An efficient method for removing the self-consistent field (SCF) diagonalization bottleneck is proposed for systems of weakly interacting components. The method is based on the equations of the locally projected SCF for molecular interactions (SCF MI) which utilize absolutely localized nonorthogonal molecular orbitals expanded in local subsets of the atomic basis set. A generalization of direct inversion in the iterative subspace for nonorthogonal molecular orbitals is formulated to increase the rate of convergence of the SCF MI equations. Single Roothaan step perturbative corrections are developed to improve the accuracy of the SCF MI energies. The resulting energies closely reproduce the conventional SCF energy. Extensive test calculations are performed on water clusters up to several hundred molecules. Compared to conventional SCF, speedups of the order of (N/O)2 have been achieved for the diagonalization step, where N is the size of the atomic orbital basis, and O is the number of occupied molecular orbitals.     

Conformational preferences of XONO2 systems (X = H,F, Cl,CH3) from ab initio techniques

Ab initio SCF and MP2 methods have been used to calculate the geometries and relative energies of both planar and nonplanar rotamers of several nitrates with a DZP basis set. The planar arrangement of atoms is found to be the lower energy configuration in all cases. The interconversion between rotamers is analyzed by partitioning the contributions to the total SCF energy in a variety of ways.     

Test of an integral approximation scheme based on semiorthogonalized orbitals in LCAO SCF MO CI calculations of naphthalene

Ab initio LCAO SCF MO CI calculations of naphthalene are carried out with a minimal basis set to test an integral approximation scheme proposed in a previous paper. When 71.3 and 53.0% of the two-electron integrals are neglected, the errors in the SCF total energy are only ?0.0534 and ?0.0006 a.u., respectively. In the latter case, the maximum absolute errors of the orbital energy and the gross AO population are 0.007 a.u. and 0.001, respectively. Even in the former case the errors of the excitation energies are less than 0.0004 a.u. Errors of oscillator strengths are also examined and are found to be tolerably small.     

Modification of the Roothaan equations to exclude BSSE from molecular interaction calculations

The Roothaan equations have been modified to compute molecular interactions between weakly bonded systems at the SCF level of theory without the basis set superposition error (BSSE). The increase in complication with respect to the usual SCF algorithm is negligible. Calculation of the SCF energy on large systems, such as nucleic acid pairs, does not pose any computational problem. At the same time, it is shown that a modest change in basis-set quality from 3-21G to 6-31G changes the binding energy by about 50% when computed according to standard SCF “supermolecule” techniques, while remaining practically constant when computed without introducing BSSE. Bader analysis shows that the amount of charge transferred between the interacting units is of the same order of magnitude when performed on standard SCF wave functions and those computed using the new method. The large difference between the corresponding computed energies is thus ascribed to the BSSE. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Basis set generation for the SCF calculation

A method for basis set generation for SCF calculations is proposed. Using SCF orbitals and orbital energies obtained in the extended basis set the Fock operator can be expressed as its spectral resolution. The sum of differences between occupied orbital energies and corresponding eigenvalues obtained by the diagonalization of this operator in the new smaller basis set is a criterion of the quality of this new set. The present method consists of the minimization of this sum by changing the parameters that determine the new basis functions. An example of the optimization of the different Gaussian basis sets for the LiH molecule is described.     

A dual-level approach to density-functional theory

An efficient approximate scheme for density-functional theory (DFT) calculations, which eliminates the time-consuming self-consistent-field (SCF) procedure, is proposed using a dual-level DFT approach. In this approach, dual levels of basis sets and exchange-correlation functionals are adopted. The dual-level DFT approach is based on the idea that the total electron density in the ground state can be represented in terms of the density evaluated using the low-quality basis set and the low-cost exchange-correlation functional. Since the SCF procedure is avoided in the total energy evaluation, the dual-level DFT approach drastically reduces the computational cost. The applications of several dual-level DFT calculations to molecular systems show that our approach is more efficient than the self-consistent DFT approach with a moderate accuracy.     

Perturbation expansion theory corrected from basis set superposition error II. Charge transfer,pair correlationand dispersion terms

The second-order perturbation theory based on the locally projected molecular orbitals is developed. A few test calculations with cc-pVDZ and aug-cc-pVDZ basis sets are carried out for the dimers, (H₂O)₂ and (HF)₂. The charge transfer terms remove the deficiency of the locally projected self-consistent field method for molecular interaction (LP SCF MO MI), and the potential energy curves calculated with aug-cc-pVDZ are very close to the corresponding curves of the counterpoise-corrected SCF energy. Only after adding the spin-exchanged dispersion type to the dispersion and intra-molecular pair correlation terms, the calculated potential energy curves become close to those of the counterpoise-corrected second-order Møller–Plesset (MP2). Pragmatic approaches for reducing the influence of the basis set superposition error are proposed.     

Extended floating spherical gaussian basis sets for molecules. Generation procedure and result for H2O

A procedure is proposed to generate extended floating spherical gaussian orbital (FSGO) basis sets for molecular SCF calculations by projecting large basis set SCF results onto FSGOs. This replaces the need for repeated evaluation of energy integrals and SCF iterations for extensive non-linear optimizations of FSGOs.     

A technique for orbital exponent optimization in ab initio HF?SCF?LCAO?MO calculations

A technique for Slater orbital exponent optimization in an HF? SCF? LCAO? MO calculation is proposed in which orbital exponent variation is incorporated into the SCF scheme. This is accomplished by rewriting Slater's rules so that the shielding terms depend on the molecular charge distribution through the elements of the population matrix. The SCF scheme then includes a calculation of a new set of orbital exponents from the coefficients of self-consistent molecular orbitals obtained from the previous set of exponents. The process is iterated until the energy attains its lowest value. The technique is illustrated by minimal basis calculations on LiH, BH, and HF. Near optimization is obtained with considerably less effort than is necessary for other reported techniques. Aside from interesting properties, the technique can be important for extended basis calculations where exponent optimization is a difficult task.     

Vibrational frequencies and geometries for the open HF trimer

Non-cyclic structures of the HF trimer are investigated using self-consistent-field (SCF) wavefunctions constructed from basis sets of double-zeta (DZ) and double-zeta plus polarization (DZ+P) quality. Cis and trans planar stationary points for the open trimer were found with the DZ SCF method, corresponding to a minimum and a transition state, respectively. With the DZP SCF method the trans structure is again a transition state but we were unable to locate an analogous cis stationary point. Thus we find little evidence for the existence of any conformational minimum of the HF trimer other than the cyclic structure. Vibrational frequencies and infrared intensities were predicted from analytic energy and dipole moment derivatives at the SCF level of theory. Predicted values for the vibrational frequency shifts relative to the HF monomer are also given and compared with experimental results.     

Perturbation improvement of SCF orbitals

A simple method for the perturbation improvement of SCF orbitals, based on the appropriate variation principle, is described. The method allows for the optimal extension of the original basis set without re-optimization of all the orbital exponents and guarantees the best lowering of the total energy. The numerical illustration of the proposed variation scheme is also given.     

Perturbation expansion theory corrected from basis set superposition error. I. Locally projected excited orbitals and single excitations

The locally projected self-consistent field molecular orbital method for molecular interaction (LP SCF MI) is reformulated for multifragment systems. For the perturbation expansion, two types of the local excited orbitals are defined; one is fully local in the basis set on a fragment, and the other has to be partially delocalized to the basis sets on the other fragments. The perturbation expansion calculations only within single excitations (LP SE MP2) are tested for water dimer, hydrogen fluoride dimer, and colinear symmetric ArM+ Ar (M = Na and K). The calculated binding energies of LP SE MP2 are all close to the corresponding counterpoise corrected SCF binding energy. By adding the single excitations, the deficiency in LP SCF MI is thus removed. The results suggest that the exclusion of the charge-transfer effects in LP SCF MI might indeed be the cause of the underestimation for the binding energy.     

Perturbative virtual SCF CI treatment for energy levels of coupled oscillator systems

A perturbative SCF CI treatment to obtain energy levels of coupled oscillator systems is proposed. The method uses the virtual SCF basis set, and the SCF equations are solved by means of a perturbative treatment that provides the diagonal matrix elements involved in the CI calculation. The off-diagonal matrix elements are calculated using a commutation relationship derived from exact quantum theorems. Numerical results for several systems are obtained and compared with those from others SCF, SCF CI , and variational treatments.     

Numerical MC SCF and CI calculations of the ground-state potential energy curve of N2

The numerical procedure of McCullough is used in calculations of Hartree-Fock and MC SCF wavefunctions for ground state of N₂. The latter are derived using the complete set of 18 spin and symmetry adapted configurations in the space of MOs that arise from 2p atomic orbitals. An increase in dissociation energy of 0.17 eV is observed when compared to MC SCF calculations in a large basis of Slater-type functions and the same set of configurations. Integrals involving the numerical MC SCF MOs are used in CI calculations in which substitutions involving the 1s and 2s electrons are included. The increase in dissociation energy due to numerical versus basis set valence CI is 0.08 eV. Spectroscopic constants and molecular quadrupole moments are reported.     

Atomic SCF loge localized wave functions

We report in this work SCF atomic calculations for Li, Be, B, C, and Ne using a basis set of completely loge-localized functions. For these second row atoms the total volume R³ was partitioned into a spherical loge of radius R and its volume complement. The loge-localized basis functions were constructed as a product of Slater-type orbitals and a cut-off factor. The energy values obtained differ significantly from the Hartree–Fock ones indicating that the delocalization effects—not included in these calculations—are important.     

Ab initio predictions of the molecular structures and harmonic vibrational frequencies of Ga2O2 isomers

The potential energy surface of Ga₂O₂ is examined at the SCF and MP2 levels employing basis set of triple- plus double polarization quality. Four stationary points located at the SCF level are characterized via their Hessian index. Electron correlation is important for the energy ordering and splitting of the isomers. For example, two minimum energy structures, a cyclicD _2h form and a linear Ga-O-Ga-O, separated by 25.69 kcal/mol at the SCF level have an energy difference of only 1.70 kcal/mol at the MP2 levels. Our computed harmonic vibrational frequency at 962 cm^–1 for the Ga-O-Ga-O minimum structure in in good agreement with the experimental predicted value of 967 cm^–1.     

Conformational analysis of primary ethylene ozonide by gradient and multiconfigurational scf calculations

Four conformers of ethylene primary ozonide have been studied by ab initio gradient and MC SCF calculations, using gaussian-type basis functions. The MC SCF results indicate that the conformers are not as close in energy as suggested from single-determinant SCF calculations. The oxygen-oxygen and carbon-oxygen half-chair structures are much lower in energy than the carbon-carbon half-chair.     

Molecular potential,cation binding,and hydration properties of the carboxylate anion. Ab initio studies with an extended polarized basis set

The carboxylat anion, involved in the structure of numerous compounds of biological interest, participates in a number of intermolecular interactions involving water, cations, and other cellular constituents. A set of ab initio SCF computations have been carried out with an extended polarized basis set on HCOO^–, its molecular electrostatic potential, and its interaction with Li⁺, Na⁺, K⁺, and H₂O. The results are compared with those of a minimal good quality basis set. An evaluation of the basis set superposition error is made in the two basis as well as that of the contribution of the dispersion energy to the hydration. The analogies and differences in the nucleophilic character of the formate and the phosphate groups are discussed.     

LFMO和NBO的定域性和作用能解析

为分析苯并分子C12H6的垂直共振能(VRE), 建立了定域片断分子轨道(LFMO)和自然键轨道(NBO)两种基组, 并在两种基组之上进行NBO能量分析和Morokuma能量分解. 在NBO能量分析中, 两种基组的VRE都是稳定的; 而在Morokuma能量分解中, VRE的稳定性取决于基组. 在NBO能量分析中, Fock矩阵的一次性对角化忽视了σ体系和π体系之间的电子耦合作用. 故NBO基组和NBO能量分析方法在计算VRE时似乎都不合理.     

Ab initio SCF and MRD CI studies of the FHCl− ion

The equilibrium geometry and hydrogen-bonding energy of the heterobihalide ion FHCl^? have been calculated by ab initio SCF and MRD CI methods using an AO basis set of near Hartree-Fock quality. In the most stable (linear) conformation of this ion, the equilibrium F Cl/FH distances are predicted to be 5.657/1.754, 5.453/L800 and 5.437/1.801 bohr by SCF, MRD CI and full CI (estimated) calculations respectively. A second minimum, which is of extremely small depth and corresponds to the hydrogen atom near the chlorine atom, begins to appear in the potential surface at an FCl distance of about 6.0 bohr. The hydrogen-bonding energy of FHCl^? lies in the range 18–22 kcal/mol.