Contracted polarization functions for the atoms Ca, Ga–Kr, Sr, and In–Xe

 Contracted Gaussian-type function sets are proposed for polarization functions of the atoms Ga–Kr and In–Xe. We also report polarization functions for Ca and Sr. A segmented contraction scheme is used for its compactness and computational efficiency. The contraction coefficients and orbital exponents are fully optimized to minimize the deviation from accurate atomic natural orbitals. The present polarization functions yield more than 99% of atomic correlation energies predicted by accurate natural orbitals of the same size. Received: 23 February 2001 / Accepted: 19 April 2001 / Published online: 13 June 2001     

Contracted polarization functions for B to Ar

Using optimal exponents for B through Ne given by Dunning and those for Al through Ar by Woon and Dunning, d-type contracted polarization functions (2d/1d), (3d/1d), and (3d/2d) are generated from natural orbitals of atomic single and double excitation configuration interaction (SDCI) calculations, where the numbers before and after the slash are those of the primitive and contracted Gaussian type functions. The resulting contracted functions are tested on N₂ and P₂ molecules by self-consistent field and SDCI calculations, which clarify characteristics of the present polarization functions. Received: 5 June 1997 / Accepted: 20 August 1997     

Contracted basis sets for electrical property calculations derived from Second-order Møller–Plesset theory atomic natural orbitals

 Using established methods based on correlated atomic natural orbitals (ANOs), sets of contracted polarization functions are derived for use in calculations of atomic and molecular electrical properties (especially electric moments, dipole polarizabilities and related property hypersurfaces). Through test calculations on Ne, Ar, NH₃ and CO₂, these polarization functions are shown to reproduce the accuracy of larger basis sets, to incorporate dynamical electron correlation effects and are economical to use in conjunction with sophisticated electron-correlation treatments. We also show how triple-zeta polarized ANO and double-zeta polarized ANO basis sets are constructed from these contracted polarization functions for use in the calculation of reliable zero-point vibrational averages of electrical properties. Received: 20 December 1999 / Accepted: 15 February 2000 / Published online: 12 May 2000     

Symmetry and equivalence restrictions in electronic structure calculations

A simple method for obtaining MCSCF orbitals and CI natural orbitals adapted to degenerate point groups, with full symmetry and equivalence restrictions, is described. Among several advantages accruing from this method are the ability to perform atomic SCF calculations on states for which the SCF energy expression cannot be written in terms of Coulomb and exchange integrals over real orbitals, and the generation of symmetry-adapted atomic natural orbitals for use in a recently proposed method for basis set contraction.     

Implementation of atomic basis set composed of 1s Gaussian and 1s Slater-type orbitals to carry out quantum mechanics molecular calculations

A mixed atomic basis set formed with ls Slater-type orbitals and 1s floating spherical Gaussian orbitals is implemented. Evaluation of multicenter integrals is carried out using a method based on expansion of binary products of atomic basis functions in terms of a complete basis set, and a systematic analysis is performed. The proposed algorithm is very stable and furnishes fairly good results for total energy and geometry. An LCAO-SCF test calculation is carried out on LiH. The trends observed show that there are some combinations of mixed orbitals that are appropriate to describe the system. ©1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 20: 604–609, 1999     

Relativistic correlating basis sets for the sixth-period d-block atoms from Lu to Hg

Contracted Gaussian-type function sets to describe valence correlation are developed for the sixth-period d-block atoms Lu through Hg. A segmented contraction scheme is employed for their compactness and efficiency. Contraction coefficients and exponents are determined by minimizing the deviation from accurate natural orbitals generated from configuration interaction calculations, in which relativistic effects are incorporated through the third-order Douglas-Kroll approximation. The present basis sets yield more than 99% of atomic correlation energies predicted by accurate natural orbital sets of the same size. Relativistic model core potential calculations with the present correlating sets give the spectroscopic constants of the AuH molecule in excellent agreement with experimental results.     

Are there atomic orbitals in a molecule?

Effective atomic orbitals (AOs) have been calculated by the method of the "fuzzy atoms" analysis by using the numerical molecular orbitals (MOs) obtained from plane-wave DFT calculation, i.e., without introducing any atom-centered functions. The results show that in the case of nonhypervalent atoms there are as many effective AOs with non-negligible occupation numbers, as many orbitals are in the classical minimal basis set of the given atom. This means that, for nonhypervalent systems, it is possible to present the MOs as sums of effective atomic orbitals that resemble very much the atomic minimal basis orbitals of the individual atoms (or their hybrids). For hypervalent atoms some additional orbitals basically of d-type are also of some importance; they are necessary to describe the back-donation to these positive atoms. It appears that the d-type orbitals play a similar role also for strongly positive carbon atoms. The method employed here is also useful to decide whether the use of polarization functions of a given type is a matter of conceptual importance or has only a numerical effect.     

An investigation of nodal structures and the construction of trial wave functions

The factors influencing the quality of the nodal surfaces, namely, the atomic basis set, the single-particle orbitals, and the configurations included in the wave-function expansion, are examined for a few atomic and molecular systems. The following empirical rules are found: the atomic basis set must be fairly large, complete active space and natural orbitals are usually better than Hartree-Fock orbitals, multiconfiguration expansions perform better than single-determinant wave functions, but only few configurations are effective and their choice is suggested by symmetry considerations, while too long determinantal expansions spoil the nodal surfaces. These rules allow us to reduce the nodal error and to compute the best fixed node-diffusion Monte Carlo energies for a series of dimers of first-row atoms.     

Atomic orbital basis sets for use with effective core potentials

Basis sets developed for use with effective core potentials describe pseudo‐orbitals rather than orbitals. The primitive Gaussian functions and the contraction coefficients in the basis set must therefore both describe the valence region effectively and allow the pseudo‐orbital to be small in the core region. The latter is particularly difficult using 1s primitive functions, which have their maxima at the nucleus. Several methods of choosing contraction coefficients are tried, and it is found that natural orbitals give the best results. The number and optimization of primitive functions are done following Dunning's correlation‐consistent procedure. Optimization of orbital exponents for larger atoms frequently results in coalescence of adjacent exponents; use of orbitals with higher principal quantum number is one alternative. Actinide atoms or ions provide the most difficult cases in that basis sets must be optimized for valence shells of different radial size simultaneously considering correlation energy and spin‐orbit energy. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 77: 516–520, 2000     

Hartree–Fock wave functions with a modified GTO basis for atoms

We have solved the atomic Hartree–Fock equations by using the algebraic approach, expanding the single-particle radial wave function in terms of a modified Gaussian type orbitals (GTOs) basis. Several atomic properties such as Kato's cusp condition for the electron density or the correct asymptotic behavior of the electron momentum density distribution are accurately verified. Additionally the energy of the atomic ground state can be obtained by using a smaller number of basis functions than in standard GTO expansions. This study has been performed for several atoms of the first three rows. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 65 : 59–64, 1997     

Multiple basis sets in calculations of triples corrections in coupled-cluster theory

Multiple basis sets are used in calculations of perturbational corrections for triples replacements in the framework of single-reference coupled-cluster theory. We investigate a computational procedure, where the triples correction is calculated from a reduced space of virtual orbitals, while the full space is employed for the coupled-cluster singles-and-doubles model. The reduced space is either constructed from a prescribed unitary transformation of the virtual orbitals (for example into natural orbitals) with subsequent truncation, or from a reduced set of atomic basis functions. After the selection of a reduced space of virtual orbitals, the singles and doubles amplitudes obtained from a calculation in the full space are projected onto the reduced space, the remaining set of virtual orbitals is brought into canonical form by diagonalizing the representation of the Fock operator in the reduced space, and the triples corrections are evaluated as usual. The case studies include the determination of the spectroscopic constants of N₂, F₂, and CO, the geometry of O₃, the electric dipole moment of CO, the static dipole polarizability of F⁻, and the Ne⋯Ne interatomic potential. Received: 28 December 1996 / Accepted: 8 April 1997     

The generator coordinate method in the unrestricted Hartree‐Fock formalism

The generator coordinate method was implemented in the unrestricted Hartree‐Fock formalism. Weight functions were built from Gaussian generator functions for 1s, 2s, and 2p orbitals of carbon and oxygen atoms. These weight functions show a similar behavior to those found in the generator coordinate restricted Hartree‐Fock method, i.e., they are smooth, continuous, and tend to zero in the limits of integration. Moreover, the weight functions obtained are different for spin‐up and spin‐down electrons what is a result from spin polarization. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2012     

Orthogonal natural atomic orbitals form an appropriate one-electron basis for expanding CASSCF wave functions into localized bonding schemes and their weights

Localized bonding schemes and their weights have been obtained for the pi-electron system of nitrone by expanding complete active space self-consistent field wave functions into a set of Slater determinants composed of orthogonal natural atomic orbitals (NAOs) of Weinhold and Landis (Valency and Bonding: A Natural Bond Orbital Donor-Acceptor Perspective, 2005). Thus, the derived bonding schemes are close to orthogonal valence bond structures. The calculated sequence of bonding scheme weights accords with the sequence of genuine resonance structure weights derived previously by Ohanessian and Hiberty (Chem Phys Lett 1987, 137, 437), who employed nonorthogonal atomic orbitals. This accord supports the notion that NAOs form an appropriate orthogonal one-electron basis for expanding complete active space self-consistent field wave functions into meaningful bonding schemes and their weights.     

Physical nature of the chemical bond II. Valence atomic orbital and energy partitioning studies of linear nitriles

The valence atomic orbitals (VAO 's) of several linear nitriles are determined using non-empirical SCF –LCAO –MO wave functions expanded in a minimal (CN^?, HCN, FCN, C₂N₂), double-zeta (CN^?, HCN), or double-zeta + polarization (HCN) basis of Slater atomic orbitals (AO 's). The molecular energy of each system (except the double-zeta + polarization HCN system) is partitioned according to the procedure of Ruedenberg to obtain numerical values of nitrile C and N atomic and C?N bond components of the energy. In addition, the nitrile results are compared with minimal AO basis results obtained previously by other authors for homonuclear diatomics, diatomic hydrides and H₂O. The numerical data are used to test the internal self-consistency of the various definitions entering the partitioning method, i.e. whether or not analogous quantities assume similar values in chemically similar situations. The analysis of nitrile SCF –MO wave functions in terms of the set of VAO 's characteristic of the system under consideration is shown to be a promising approach to the problem of extracting useful information from the wave functions. In general, numerical results for the nitrile systems studied are fairly consistent with the concepts on which the partitioning method is based: promotion, quasi-classical interaction, sharing penetration, sharing interference and charge transfer. However, the VAO expansions for several energy components need to be investigated further and possibly revised.     

Are atoms sic to molecular electronic wavefunctions? II. Analysis of fors orbitals

Electronic wavefunctions that describe molecules in the full optimized reaction space (FORS) are multiconfigurational wavefunctions which are invariant under non-singular linear transformations of the occupied molecular orbitals. They offer therefore a considerably wider scope for orbital interpretations than the single-configuration Hartree-Fock approximation. For example they can be analyzed in terms of natural MOs and in terms of localized MOs. The latter turn out to be remarkably atomic in character and a new localization procedure can be formulated which yields atom-adapted molecular orbitals. These have the character of minimal-basis-set AOs that are optimally adapted to the molecular environment and furnish an unambigious atomic population analysis. On the other hand, chemically adapted molecular orbitals can be defined by an appropriate compromise between natural orbitals and localized orbitals. The freedom to use, as configuration-generating molecular orbitals, atom-adapted FORS MOs as well as chemically adapted FORS MOs makes FORS wavefunctions particularly suitable for chemical interpretations. The ensuing analysis establishes the minimal basis set (in molecule-adapted form) as a theoretically sound concept for the understanding of accurate molecular wavefunctions. An illustrative example is discussed.