Allowance for polarization of atomic electron shells in MO LCAO calculations

The application of MO LCAO methods to molecules containing elements in the higher periods is discussed, especially compounds containing two phenyl rings linked via an oxygen atom. The calculated -electron density is found to agree with the observed electronic absorption spectra, dipole moment, effects of polarity on reactivity, and so on, provided that the wave function used for the heteroatom with n>2 is =c₁ npz+ +c_{2 nd}+...; the terms c_{2 nd}... provide correction for the change in the atomic function _npz produced by the surrounding atoms. This effect is not important for O, N, and C (first period). The effects of surrounding atoms on _npz for the halogen atom have evidently to be considered in computations on the -electron density for any molecule containing such an atom.     

General variation method for the relativistic calculations of atoms and molecules

Use of the general variation method of Weinstein and MacDonald for the relativistic calculation of atoms and molecules is proposed. It is shown from the numerical calculations for hydrogenlike atomic systems that this method is useful in judging an accuracy of energies and wave functions obtained with a relativistic Hamiltonian whose spectra are not bounded. It is also shown that this method can be used to find spurious solutions such as 1p_½ or 2d_3/2 appearing in atomic systems. Problems in extending the method to many-electron atoms and molecules are discussed.     

Problems in electron propagator calculations of the correlation energy

Approximations to the one-electron propagator, G(ω), are discussed asa basis for correlation energy calculations. The random-phase approximation (RPA) and second-order perturbation theory estimates of the self-energy are used to determine G(ω). Correlation energy expressions, resulting from contour integration, are compared with the standard perturbation expansion. We suggest that some of the simpler approximations to the electron propagator may be unsuited to calculations of the correlation energy.     

The effect of electron correlation on the topological and atomic properties of the electron density distributions of molecules

The topological properties of the electron density and the properties of an atom in a molecule are calculated by means of second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) and compared with the results of configuration interaction calculations (C12) which include all single and double substitutions from the Hartree-Fock reference configuration. A software package for analyzing the effects of electron correlation on the topological properties of the electron density of molecules is described. H₂CO is used to provide a numerical example and to indicate that the number of bond critical points is unaffected by the inclusion of electron correlation. Correlation leads to only a small shift in the positions of bond critical points and a small change in the electron density at bond critical points. It is further shown that the energy of an atom in a molecule can be calculated to an accuracy of 1 kcal/mol and the electron population of an atom to about 0.001e. A statistical method is used to show that the deviation of the MP2 correlation correction relative to the CI2 correlation correction for a variety of atomic properties is about 25%.     

Strategies for electron correlation calculations on large molecular systems

The two main problems in applying common methods for electron correlation to large systems are (1) the steep dependency of the computational task with the size of the system and (2) the large and often prohibitive number of two-electron integrals that must be stored and retrieved during the calculation. The direct local correlation method eliminates both these problems. This method is a combination of the local correlation method that eliminates the steep computational dependency with the size of the system and extension of the direct SCF approach to electron correlation methods. The latter method eliminates external storage of the electron repulsion integrals. In this review, the direct local correlation approach and its computer implementation will be described in detail, including computational examples and comparisons to similar methods developed in other groups. The feasibility of future applications to extended systems is discussed.     

Connected moments expansion calculations of the correlation energy in small molecules

The second-order connected moments expansion (CMX(2)) approach to calculation of the correlation energy is tested numerically on several closed-shell di- and tri-atomic molecules. Benchmark computations performed within 6–31G⁷ basis set reveal that CMX(2) usually recovers more than 50% of the MP3 correlation energy and improves the SCF molecular geometries at a cost comparable to the MP3 calculations.     

Error analysis of incremental electron correlation calculations and applications to clusters and potential energy surfaces

An analysis of the propagation of errors in the incremental expansion of the correlation energy is presented. The potential accuracy of the incremental scheme is demonstrated explicitly for cluster compounds. The errors due to the truncation of the series at low order can be controlled in a systematic way and the error in the total correlation energy can be kept lower than 1 kcal/mol with respect to the canonical CCSD calculation. Finally, the performance of the incremental scheme in calculating potential energy surfaces is demonstrated.     

Spectroscopic calculations of electron diffraction parameters of diatomic molecules

Using spectroscopic data, the electron diffraction parameters r_g and l_e for the iodine and oxygen molecules are calculated at various temperatures by numerical diagonalization of the vibrational hamiltonian matrix and by the density matrix approach. The results are discussed and compared with available experimental data. A comparison is also made with the results of second-order perturbation calculations for iodine reported in the literature.     

Fully optimized implementation of the cluster-in-molecule local correlation approach for electron correlation calculations of large systems

A fully optimized implementation of the cluster-in-molecule (CIM) local correlation method for faster and more accurate electron correlation calculations of large systems is reported. The speedup comes from the new procedure of constructing virtual localized molecular orbitals of clusters. In the new procedure, Boughton–Pulay projection method is employed instead of a much more expensive Boys localization procedure. In addition, basis set superposition error correction for binding energy calculations and parallelized electron correlation calculations of clusters are now implemented. Benchmark calculations and illustrative applications at the Møller–Plesset perturbation theory, coupled cluster singles and doubles (CCSD), and CCSD with perturbative triples correction levels show that this newly optimized CIM approach is a reliable theoretical tool for electron correlation calculations of various large chemical systems. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Monte Carlo study of electron correlation functions for small molecules

A study is made of electron-electron correlation functions for use in trial wave functions for small molecules. New forms are proposed that have only a few variational parameters, and these parameters have physical meanings that are easily discerned. Total energies for H₂, LiH and Li₂ computed using these correlation functions are presented, and comparison is made with previous forms, including the Jastrow-Pade form often used in Monte Carlo studies. We further treat the possibility that correlation depends not only on the separation of a pair of electrons but also on the location of the electron pair relative to the nuclei — indicative of a density-dependent or many body correlation effect. Our results indicate that such a many-body correlation effect is weakly present.This work was supported by the Director, Office of Energy Research, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Chemical Sciences Division of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC03-76SF00098     

Electric properties of molecules confined by the spherical harmonic potential

The harmonic oscillator potential is very often used in quantum chemical studies of electric properties to model the effect of spatial confinement. In the vast majority of works, the harmonic potential of cylindrical symmetry was applied. Thus far, its spherical counterpart was used mainly to describe properties of spatially restricted atomic systems. Therefore, our main goal was to study the molecular electric properties in the presence of the spherically symmetric harmonic oscillator potential and to characterize the impact of the relative position of the considered molecules and spherical confinement on these properties. Moreover, we analyzed how the topology of confining environment affects the dipole moment and (hyper)polarizability, by comparing the results obtained in the spherical and cylindrical harmonic potential. Based on the conducted research, it was found that the position of the molecules relative to the spherical confinement strongly influences their electric properties. The observed trends of changes in the electric properties, caused by increasing the confinement strength, vary significantly. Moreover, it was shown that in the vast majority of cases, significant differences in the values of electric properties, obtained in the cylindrical and spherical confinement of a given strength, occur.     

Calculation of magnetic properties of HF,H2O,NH3, and CH4 molecules using a longitudinal gauge for the vector potential

A transformation of the transverse Coulomb vector potential was implemented to calculate molecular magnetic properties via the random-phase approximation (RPA) within the framework of a “longitudinal gauge.” In this gauge, the diamagnetic contribution to magnetic susceptibility is a tensor with equal diagonal components as in atoms, irrespective of molecular symmetry, whereas diagonal and average diamagnetic contributions to the nuclear magnetic shielding are the same as in the Coulomb gauge. Near-Hartree–Fock magnetic susceptibility and nuclear magnetic shielding tensors were evaluated for a set of small molecules, HF, H₂O, NH₃, and CH₄, employing extended Gaussian basis sets. The peculiar features of the longitudinal gauge, and the fulfillment of a series of sum rules involving the virial operator, which must be satisfied to guarantee gauge invariance of total magnetic tensors, were exploited to check the degree of convergence of theoretical values and to estimate the corresponding Hartree–Fock limit for the properties. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 66 : 31–45, 1998     

Role of the exchange-correlation potential in ab initio electron transport calculations

The effect of the exchange-correlation potential in ab initio electron transport calculations is investigated by constructing optimized effective potentials using different energy functionals or the electron density from second-order perturbation theory. The authors calculate electron transmission through two atomic chain systems, one with charge transfer and one without. Dramatic effects are caused by two factors: changes in the energy gap and the self-interaction error. The error in conductance caused by the former is about one order of magnitude while that caused by the latter ranges from several times to two orders of magnitude, depending on the coupling strength and charge transfer. The implications for accurate quantum transport calculations are discussed.     

Comparison of the effective core potential and model potential methods in studies of electron correlation energy in molecules: Dihalides and halogen hydrides

Summary The effective core potential and model potential methods were used in post-SCF calculations on HC1, HBr, Cl₂, and Br₂ in order to gain insight into the effect of insufficient representation of inner nodes in the valence orbitals of the approximate methods. The results show that while the correlation energy may be slightly overestimated (by 1–7%), both the electric moment functions and the quantities depending on energy differences are consistently similar for the methods studied and close to the results from all-electron calculations.Dedicated to Prof. Klaus Ruedenberg     

Ab initio calculations of small hydrides including electron correlation

Calculations based on the independent-electron-pair approximation (IEPA) and the direct determination of approximate natural orbitals for the different pair correlation functions, including intra- and interpair correlation effects, are performed for the BH ground state at several internuclear distances r. The dependence of the different pair correlation contributions on r is investigated. The contributions involving the K-shell orbitals of B are practically independent of r. Calculated equilibrium distances and force constants including correlation effects are in better agreement with experiment than are the corresponding Hartree-Fock values.

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Zusammenfassung Rechnungen, die auf der Näherung der unabhängigen Elektronenpaare (Independent-electron-pair approximation IEPA) und der direkten Bestimmung genäherter natürlicher Orbitale beruhen und die sowohl Intra- als auch Interpaar-Korrelationseffekte erfassen, wurden für das BH-Molekül bei verschiedenen interatomaren Abständen r durchgeführt. Die Abhängigkeit der verschiedenen Paar-Korrelationsbeiträge von r wird untersucht. Die Beiträge, an denen die K-Schale des B-Atoms beteiligt ist, erweisen sich als praktisch unabhängig von r. Die Berücksichtigung der Korrelationseffekte führt zu einer Verbesserung der berechneten Werte von Gleichgewichtsabstand und Kraftkonstante in Richtung auf die experimentellen Werte.

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Résumé Un calcul basé sur l'approximation des paires d'électrons indépendantes (Independent-electron-pair approximation IEPA) et la détermination directe des orbitales naturelles approchées a été fait pour l'état fondamental de la molécule de BH; les contributions provenant de la corrélation intra- et interpaire ont été calculées pour plusieurs distances internucléaires r, et la dépendance de ces contributions en fonction de r a été étudiée.On montre que les contributions dans lesquelles le niveau K intervient sont pratiquement independantes de r. Le fait de tenir compte explicitement de la corrélation améliore les valeurs calculées de la distance d'équilibre et de la constante de force qui se rapprochent des valeurs expérimentales.