Combining explicitly correlated R12 and Gaussian geminal electronic structure theories

Explicitly correlated R12 methods using a single short-range correlation factor (also known as F12 methods) have dramatically smaller basis set errors compared to the standard wave function counterparts, even when used with small basis sets. Correlations on several length scales, however, may not be described efficiently with one correlation factor. Here the authors explore a more general MP2-R12 method in which each electron pair uses a set of (contracted) Gaussian-type geminals (GTGs) with fixed exponents, whose coefficients are optimized linearly. The following features distinguish the current method from related explicitly correlated approaches published in the literature: (1) only two-electron integrals are needed, (2) the only approximations are the resolution of the identity and the generalized Brillouin condition, (3) only linear parameters are optimized, and (4) an arbitrary number of (non-)contracted GTGs can appear. The present method using only three GTGs and a double-zeta quality basis computed valence correlation energies for a set of 20 small molecules only 2.2% removed from the basis set limit. The average basis set error reduces to 1.2% using a near-complete set of seven GTGs with the double-zeta basis set. The conventional MP2 energies computed with much larger quadruple, quintuple, and sextuple basis sets all had larger average errors: 4.6%, 2.4%, and 1.5%, respectively. The new method compares well to the published MP2-R12 method using a single Slater-type geminal (STG) correlation factor. For example, the average basis set error in the absolute MP2-R12 energy obtained with the exp(-r12) correlation factor is 1.7%. Correlation contribution to atomization energies evaluated with the present method and with the STG-based method only required a double-zeta basis set to exceed the precision of the conventional sextuple-zeta result. The new method is shown to always be numerically stable if linear dependencies are removed from the two-particle basis and the zeroth-order Hamiltonian matrix is made positive definite.     

General orbital invariant MP2-F12 theory

A general form of orbital invariant explicitly correlated second-order closed-shell Moller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2-F12) is derived, and compact working equations are presented. Many-electron integrals are avoided by resolution of the identity (RI) approximations using the complementary auxiliary basis set approach. A hierarchy of well defined levels of approximation is introduced, differing from the exact theory by the neglect of terms involving matrix elements over the Fock operator. The most accurate method is denoted as MP2-F12/3B. This assumes only that Fock matrix elements between occupied orbitals and orbitals outside the auxiliary basis set are negligible. For the chosen ansatz for the first-order wave function this is exact if the auxiliary basis is complete. In the next lower approximation it is assumed that the occupied orbital space is closed under action of the Fock operator [generalized Brillouin condition (GBC)]; this is equivalent to approximation 2B of Klopper and Samson [J. Chem. Phys. 116, 6397 (2002)]. Further approximations can be introduced by assuming the extended Brillouin condition (EBC) or by neglecting certain terms involving the exchange operator. A new approximation MP2-F12/3C, which is closely related to the MP2-R12/C method recently proposed by Kedzuch et al. [Int. J. Quantum Chem. 105, 929 (2005)] is described. In the limit of a complete RI basis this method is equivalent to MP2-F12/3B. The effect of the various approximations (GBC, EBC, and exchange) is tested by studying the convergence of the correlation energies with respect to the atomic orbital and auxiliary basis sets for 21 molecules. The accuracy of relative energies is demonstrated for 16 chemical reactions. Approximation 3C is found to perform equally well as the computationally more demanding approximation 3B. The reaction energies obtained with smaller basis sets are found to be most accurate if the orbital-variant diagonal Ansatz combined with localized orbitals is used for the first-order wave function. This unexpected result is attributed to geminal basis set superposition errors present in the formally more rigorous orbital invariant methods.     

Structures, energetics and vibrational frequency shifts of hydrated pyrimidine

More than 70 unique micro-hydrated structures of pyrimidine, ranging in size from 1 to 7 water molecules, have been characterized with the B3LYP density functional and the 6-311++G(2df,2pd) triple-ζ split-valence basis set. Explicitly correlated MP2-F12 single-point computations were performed on each structure with a correlation consistent triple-ζ basis set to estimate the relative and dissociation energies at the MP2 complete basis set (CBS) limit. Many of these new structures have significantly lower energies than those previously reported (by as much as 12.66 kcal?mol(-1)). For clusters with 1 and 2 water molecules, the MP2-F12 relative and dissociation energies are virtually identical to the corresponding CCSD(T)-F12 values. As the number of hydrating waters increases, the structures in which the water molecules are clustered together at one of the N atoms have lower energies than those where the water molecules are more distributed around the pyrimidine ring. Micro-hydrated structures that effectively extend the low-energy hydrogen-bonding motifs to both sides of the ring, as would be expected in the bulk phase, reproduce the experimentally observed vibrational frequency shifts of ν(1) and ν(8b) in very dilute aqueous pyrimidine solutions to within 1 cm(-1) . Micro-hydrated structures of pyrimidine in which water molecules are clustered together have lower energies than structures in which the water molecules are more evenly spread around the pyrimidine ring.     

Basis set limits of the second order Moller-Plesset correlation energies of water, methane, acetylene, ethylene, and benzene

We report second order Moller-Plesset (MP2) and MP2-F12 total energies on He, Ne, Ar, H(2)O, CH(4), C(2)H(2), C(2)H(4), and C(6)H(6), using the correlation consistent basis sets, aug-cc-pVXZ (X=D-7). Basis set extrapolation techniques are applied to the MP2 and MP2-F12/B methods. The performance of the methods is tested in the calculations of the atoms, He, Ne, and Ar. It is indicated that the two-point extrapolation of MP2-F12/B with the basis sets (X=5,6) is the most reliable. Similar accuracy is obtained using two-point extrapolated conventional MP2 with the basis sets (X=6,7). For the molecules investigated the valence MP2 correlation energy is estimated within 1 mE(h).     

A simple and efficient CCSD(T)-F12 approximation

A new explicitly correlated CCSD(T)-F12 approximation is presented and tested for 23 molecules and 15 chemical reactions. The F12 correction strongly improves the basis set convergence of correlation and reaction energies. Errors of the Hartree-Fock contributions are effectively removed by including MP2 single excitations into the auxiliary basis set. Using aug-cc-pVTZ basis sets the CCSD(T)-F12 calculations are more accurate and two orders of magnitude faster than standard CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pV5Z calculations.     

Systematically convergent basis sets for explicitly correlated wavefunctions: the atoms H, He, B-Ne, and Al-Ar

Correlation consistent basis sets have been optimized for use with explicitly correlated F12 methods. The new sets, denoted cc-pVnZ-F12 (n=D,T,Q), are similar in size and construction to the standard aug-cc-pVnZ and aug-cc-pV(n+d)Z basis sets, but the new sets are shown in the present work to yield much improved convergence toward the complete basis set limit in MP2-F12/3C calculations on several small molecules involving elements of both the first and second row. For molecules containing only first row atoms, the smallest cc-pVDZ-F12 basis set consistently recovers nearly 99% of the MP2 valence correlation energy when combined with the MP2-F12/3C method. The convergence with basis set for molecules containing second row atoms is slower, but the new DZ basis set still recovers 97%-99% of the frozen core MP2 correlation energy. The accuracy of the new basis sets for relative energetics is demonstrated in benchmark calculations on a set of 15 chemical reactions.     

Accurate calculations of intermolecular interaction energies using explicitly correlated wave functions

Explicitly correlated second-order M?ller-Plesset (MP2-F12) calculations of intermolecular interaction energies for the S22 benchmark set of Jurecka, Sponer, Cerny, and Hobza (Chem. Phys. Phys. Chem. 2006, 8, 1985) are presented and compared with standard MP2 results. The MP2 complete basis set limits are estimated using basis set extrapolation and augmented quadruple-zeta and quintuple-zeta basis sets. Already with augmented double-zeta basis sets the MP2-F12 interaction energies are found to be closer to the complete basis set limits than standard MP2 calculations with augmented quintuple-zeta basis sets. Various possible approximations in the MP2-F12 method are systematically tested. Best results are obtained with localized orbitals and the diagonal MP2-F12/C(D) ansatz. Hybrid approximations, in which some contributions of the auxiliary basis set are neglected and which considerably reduce the computational cost, have a negligible effect on the interaction energies. Also the orbital-invariant fixed-amplitude approximation of Ten-no leads to only slightly less accurate results. Preliminary results for the neon and benzene dimers, obtained with the recently proposed CCSD(T)-F12a approximation, indicate that the CCSD(T) basis set limits can also be very closely approached using augmented triple-zeta basis sets.     

Explicitly correlated second-order perturbation theory using density fitting and local approximations

Three major obstacles in electronic structure theory are the steep scalings of computer time with respect to system size and basis size and the slow convergence of correlation energies in orbital basis sets. Three solutions to these are, respectively, local methods, density fitting, and explicit correlation; in this work, we combine all three to produce a low-order scaling method that can achieve accurate MP2 energies for large systems. The errors introduced by the local approximations into the R12 treatment are analyzed for 16 chemical reactions involving 21 molecules. Weak pair approximations, as well as local resolution of the identity approximations, are tested for molecules with up to 49 atoms, over 100 correlated electrons, and over 1000 basis functions.     

Estimates of the ab initio limit for pi-pi interactions: the benzene dimer

State-of-the-art electronic structure methods have been applied to the simplest prototype of aromatic pi-pi interactions, the benzene dimer. By comparison to results with a large aug-cc-pVTZ basis set, we demonstrate that more modest basis sets such as aug-cc-pVDZ are sufficient for geometry optimizations of intermolecular parameters at the second-order M?ller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) level. However, basis sets even larger than aug-cc-pVTZ are important for accurate binding energies. The complete basis set MP2 binding energies, estimated by explicitly correlated MP2-R12/A techniques, are significantly larger in magnitude than previous estimates. When corrected for higher-order correlation effects via coupled cluster with singles, doubles, and perturbative triples [CCSD(T)], the binding energies D(e) (D(0)) for the sandwich, T-shaped, and parallel-displaced configurations are found to be 1.8 (2.0), 2.7 (2.4), and 2.8 (2.7) kcal mol(-1), respectively.     

On the accuracy of explicitly correlated coupled-cluster interaction energies--have orbital results been beaten yet?

The basis set convergence of weak interaction energies for dimers of noble gases helium through krypton is studied for six variants of the explicitly correlated, frozen geminal coupled-cluster singles, doubles, and noniterative triples [CCSD(T)-F12] approach: the CCSD(T)-F12a, CCSD(T)-F12b, and CCSD(T)(F12*) methods with scaled and unscaled triples. These dimers were chosen because CCSD(T) complete-basis-set (CBS) limit benchmarks are available for them to a particularly high precision. The dependence of interaction energies on the auxiliary basis sets has been investigated and it was found that the default resolution-of-identity sets cc-pVXZ/JKFIT are far from adequate in this case. Overall, employing the explicitly correlated approach clearly speeds up the basis set convergence of CCSD(T) interaction energies, however, quite surprisingly, the improvement is not as large as the one achieved by a simple addition of bond functions to the orbital basis set. Bond functions substantially improve the CCSD(T)-F12 interaction energies as well. For small and moderate bases with bond functions, the accuracy delivered by the CCSD(T)-F12 approach cannot be matched by conventional CCSD(T). However, the latter method in the largest available bases still delivers the CBS limit to a better precision than CCSD(T)-F12 in the largest bases available for that approach. Our calculations suggest that the primary reason for the limited accuracy of the large-basis CCSD(T)-F12 treatment are the approximations made at the CCSD-F12 level and the non-explicitly correlated treatment of triples. In contrast, the explicitly correlated second-order Mo?ller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2-F12) approach is able to pinpoint the complete-basis-set limit MP2 interaction energies of rare gas dimers to a better precision than conventional MP2. Finally, we report and analyze an unexpected failure of the CCSD(T)-F12 method to deliver the core-core and core-valence correlation corrections to interaction energies consistently and accurately.     

Second-order Møller-Plesset theory with linear R12 terms (MP2-R12) revisited: auxiliary basis set method and massively parallel implementation

Ab initio electronic structure approaches in which electron correlation explicitly appears have been the subject of much recent interest. Because these methods accelerate the rate of convergence of the energy and properties with respect to the size of the one-particle basis set, they promise to make accuracies of better than 1 kcal/mol computationally feasible for larger chemical systems than can be treated at present with such accuracy. The linear R12 methods of Kutzelnigg and co-workers are currently the most practical means to include explicit electron correlation. However, the application of such methods to systems of chemical interest faces severe challenges, most importantly, the still steep computational cost of such methods. Here we describe an implementation of the second-order M?ller-Plesset method with terms linear in the interelectronic distances (MP2-R12) which has a reduced computational cost due to the use of two basis sets. The use of two basis sets in MP2-R12 theory was first investigated recently by Klopper and Samson and is known as the auxiliary basis set (ABS) approach. One of the basis sets is used to describe the orbitals and another, the auxiliary basis set, is used for approximating matrix elements occurring in the exact MP2-R12 theory. We further extend the applicability of the approach by parallelizing all steps of the integral-direct MP2-R12 energy algorithm. We discuss several variants of the MP2-R12 method in the context of parallel execution and demonstrate that our implementation runs efficiently on a variety of distributed memory machines. Results of preliminary applications indicate that the two-basis (ABS) MP2-R12 approach cannot be used safely when small basis sets (such as augmented double- and triple-zeta correlation consistent basis sets) are utilized in the orbital expansion. Our results suggest that basis set reoptimization or further modifications of the explicitly correlated ansatz and/or standard approximations for matrix elements are necessary in order to make the MP2-R12 method sufficiently accurate when small orbital basis sets are used. The computer code is a part of the latest public release of Sandia's Massively Parallel Quantum Chemistry program available under GNU General Public License.     

Theoretical study on the hydrogen bonding of five-membered heteroaromatics with water

The hydrogen-bonding ability of five-membered heteroaromatic molecules containing one chalcogen and two heteroatoms with nitrogen in addition to chalcogen, respectively, have been analyzed using density functional and molecular orbital methods through adduct formation with water. The stabilization energies for all the adducts are established at B3LYP/6-31+G* and MP2/6-31+G* levels after correcting for the basis set superposition error by using the counterpoise method and also corrected for zero-point vibrational energies. A natural bond orbital analysis at B3LYP/6-31+G* level and natural energy decomposition analysis at HF/6-31+G* using MP2/6-31+G* geometries have been carried out to understand the nature of hydrogen-bonding interaction in monohydrated heterocyclic adducts. Nucleus-independent chemical shift have been evaluated to understand the correlation between hydrogen bond formation and aromaticity.     

Analysis of fourth-order Møller–Plesset limit energies: the importance of three-electron correlation effects

Fourth-order M?ller–Plesset (MP4) correlation energies are computed for 28 atoms and simple molecules employing Dunning's correlation-consistent polarized-valence m-zeta basis sets for m=2, 3, 4, and 5. Extrapolation formulas are used to predict MP4 energies for infinitely large basis sets. It is shown that both total and partial MP4 correlation energies can be extrapolated to limit values and that the sum of extrapolated partial MP4 energies equals the extrapolated total MP4 correlation energy within calculational accuracy. Therefore, partial MP4 correlation energies can be presented in the form of an MP4 spectrum reflecting the relative importance of different correlation effects. Typical trends in calculated correlation effects for a given class of electron systems are independent of the basis set used. As first found by Cremer and He [(1996) J Phys Chem 100:6173], one can use MP4 spectra to distinguish between electron systems with well-separated electron pairs and systems for which electrons cluster in a confined region of atomic or molecular space. MP4 spectra for increasing size of the basis set reveal that smaller basis set calculations underestimate the importance of three-electron correlation effects for both classes by overestimating the importance of pair correlation effects. The minimum size of a basis set required for reliable MP4 calculations is given by a valence triple-zeta polarized basis, which even in the case of anions performs better than a valence double-zeta basis augmented by diffuse functions. Received: 14 June 2000 / Accepted: 16 June 2000 / Published online: 24 October 2000     

Explicitly correlated second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory employing pseudospectral numerical quadratures

We implemented explicitly correlated second-order M?ller-Plesset perturbation theory with numerical quadratures using pseudospectral construction of grids. Introduction of pseudospectral approach for the calculation of many-electron integrals gives a possibility to use coarse grids without significant loss of precision in correlation energies, while the number of points in the grid is reduced about nine times. The use of complementary auxiliary basis sets as the sets of dealiasing functions is justified at both theoretical and computational levels. Benchmark calculations for a set of 16 molecules have shown the possibility to keep an error of second-order correlation energies within 1 milihartree (mH) with respect to MP2-F12 method with dense grids. Numerical tests for a set of 13 isogyric reactions are also performed.     

High-level ab initio calculations for the four low-lying families of minima of (H2O)20. I. Estimates of MP2/CBS binding energies and comparison with empirical potentials

We report estimates of complete basis set (CBS) limits at the second-order M?ller-Plesset perturbation level of theory (MP2) for the binding energies of the lowest-lying isomers within each of the four major families of minima of (H(2)O)(20). These were obtained by performing MP2 calculations with the family of correlation-consistent basis sets up to quadruple zeta quality, augmented with additional diffuse functions (aug-cc-pVnZ, n=D, T, Q). The MP2/CPS estimates are -200.1 (dodecahedron, 30 hydrogen bonds), -212.6 (fused cubes, 36 hydrogen bonds), -215.0 (face-sharing pentagonal prisms, 35 hydrogen bonds), and -217.9 kcal/mol (edge-sharing pentagonal prisms, 34 hydrogen bonds). The energetic ordering of the various (H(2)O)(20) isomers does not follow monotonically the number of hydrogen bonds as in the case of smaller clusters such as the different isomers of the water hexamer. The dodecahedron lies ca. 18 kcal/mol higher in energy than the most stable edge-sharing pentagonal prism isomer. The TIP4P, ASP-W4, TTM2-R, AMOEBA, and TTM2-F empirical potentials also predict the energetic stabilization of the edge-sharing pentagonal prisms with respect to the dodecahedron, albeit they universally underestimate the cluster binding energies with respect to the MP2/CBS result. Among them, the TTM2-F potential was found to predict the absolute cluster binding energies to within <1% from the corresponding MP2/CBS values, whereas the error for the rest of the potentials considered in this study ranges from 3% to 5%.     

Basis set convergence of explicitly correlated double-hybrid density functional theory calculations

The basis set convergence of explicitly correlated double-hybrid density functional theory (DFT) is investigated using the B2GP-PLYP functional. As reference values, we use basis set limit B2GP-PLYP-F12 reaction energies extrapolated from the aug(')-cc-pV(Q+d)Z and aug(')-cc-pV(5+d)Z basis sets. Explicitly correlated double-hybrid DFT calculations converge significantly faster to the basis set limit than conventional calculations done with basis sets saturated up to the same angular momentum (typically, one "gains" one angular momentum in the explicitly correlated calculations). In explicitly correlated F12 calculations the VnZ-F12 basis sets converge faster than the orbital A(')VnZ basis sets. Furthermore, basis set convergence of the MP2-F12 component is apparently faster than that of the underlying Kohn-Sham calculation. Therefore, the most cost-effective approach consists of combining the MP2-F12 correlation energy from a comparatively small basis set such as VDZ-F12 with a DFT energy from a larger basis set such as aug(')-cc-pV(T+d)Z.     

Quantum dynamics of vibrationally activated OH-CO reactant complexes

The MP2 complete basis set (CBS) limit for the binding energy of the two low-lying water octamer isomers of D2d and S4 symmetry is estimated at -72.7+/-0.4 kcal/mol using the family of augmented correlation-consistent orbital basis sets of double through quintuple zeta quality. The largest MP2 calculation with the augmented quintuple zeta (aug-cc-pV5Z) basis set produced binding energies of -73.70 (D2d) and -73.67 kcal/mol (S4). The effects of higher correlation, computed at the CCSD(T) level of theory, are estimated at <0.1 kcal/mol. The newly established MP2/CBS limit for the water octamer is reproduced quite accurately by the newly developed all atom polarizable, flexible interaction potential (TTM2-F). The TTM2-F binding energies of -73.21 (D2d) and -73.24 kcal/mol (S4) for the two isomers are just 0.5 kcal/mol (or 0.7%) larger than the MP2/CBS limit.     

Explicitly correlated RMP2 for high-spin open-shell reference states

We present an explicitly correlated version of the high-spin open-shell RMP2 method. The theory is derived in a unitarily invariant form, which is suitable for the insertion of local approximations. It is demonstrated that the rapid basis set convergence of closed-shell MP2-F12 is also achieved in RMP2-F12, and similar Ansatze and approximations can be employed. All integrals are computed using efficient density fitting approximations, and many-electron integrals are avoided using resolution of the identity approximations. The performance of the method is demonstrated by benchmark calculations on a large set of ionization potentials, electron affinities and atomization energies. Using triple-zeta basis sets RMP2-F12 yields results that are closer to the basis set limit than standard RMP2 with augmented quintuple-zeta basis sets for all properties. Different variants of perturbative corrections for the open-shell Hartree-Fock treatment are described and tested.     

Approaching the theoretical limit in periodic local MP2 calculations with atomic-orbital basis sets: the case of LiH

The atomic orbital basis set limit is approached in periodic correlated calculations for solid LiH. The valence correlation energy is evaluated at the level of the local periodic second order M?ller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2), using basis sets of progressively increasing size, and also employing "bond"-centered basis functions in addition to the standard atom-centered ones. Extended basis sets, which contain linear dependencies, are processed only at the MP2 stage via a dual basis set scheme. The local approximation (domain) error has been consistently eliminated by expanding the orbital excitation domains. As a final result, it is demonstrated that the complete basis set limit can be reached for both HF and local MP2 periodic calculations, and a general scheme is outlined for the definition of high-quality atomic-orbital basis sets for solids.     

Extrapolation of electron correlation energies to finite and complete basis set targets

The electron correlation energy of two-electron atoms is known to converge asymptotically as approximately (L+1)(-3) to the complete basis set limit, where L is the maximum angular momentum quantum number included in the basis set. Numerical evidence has established a similar asymptotic convergence approximately X(-3) with the cardinal number X of correlation-consistent basis sets cc-pVXZ for coupled cluster singles and doubles (CCSD) and second order perturbation theory (MP2) calculations of molecules. The main focus of this article is to probe for deviations from asymptotic convergence behavior for practical values of X by defining a trial function X(-beta) that for an effective exponent beta=beta(eff)(X,X+1,X+N) provides the correct energy E(X+N), when extrapolating from results for two smaller basis sets, E(X) and E(X+1). This analysis is first applied to "model" expansions available from analytical theory, and then to a large body of finite basis set results (X=D,T,Q,5,6) for 105 molecules containing H, C, N, O, and F, complemented by a smaller set of 14 molecules for which accurate complete basis set limits are available from MP2-R12 and CCSD-R12 calculations. beta(eff) is generally found to vary monotonically with the target of extrapolation, X+N, making results for large but finite basis sets a useful addition to the limited number of cases where complete basis set limits are available. Significant differences in effective convergence behavior are observed between MP2 and CCSD (valence) correlation energies, between hydrogen-rich and hydrogen-free molecules, and, for He, between partial-wave expansions and correlation-consistent basis sets. Deviations from asymptotic convergence behavior tend to get smaller as X increases, but not always monotonically, and are still quite noticeable even for X=5. Finally, correlation contributions to atomization energies (rather than total energies) exhibit a much larger variation of effective convergence behavior, and extrapolations from small basis sets are found to be particularly erratic for molecules containing several electronegative atoms. Observed effects are discussed in the light of results known from analytical theory. A carefully calibrated protocol for extrapolations to the complete basis set limit is presented, based on a single "optimal" exponent beta(opt)(X,X+1,infinity) for the entire set of molecules, and compared to similar approaches reported in the literature.