High pressure phases of different tetraboranes

High pressure phases of boron hydrides B₄H₁₀, B₄H₈ and B₄H₆ and their stability against dissociation into H and smaller B–H units are reported. Structure predictions based on particle swarm optimization reveal that all the boron hydrides studied show a tendency to separate into smaller structural units at low pressure. Under high pressure, the three-dimensional network in all the stoichiometries selected seems to be the most favourable arrangement. A study of the dissociation of B₄H₁₀ reflects an affinity to dissociate into B₄H₈ and H₂ in all the studied pressure range. Nevertheless, B₄H₈ does not seem to segregate in the studied pressure range and B₄H₆ may dissociate at 150 GPa.     

Quantum Monte Carlo calculations of the dissociation energies of three-electron hemibonded radical cationic dimers

We report variational and diffusion quantum Monte Carlo (VMC and DMC) calculations of the dissociation energies of the three-electron hemibonded radical cationic dimers of He, NH3, H2O, HF, and Ne. These systems are particularly difficult for standard density-functional methods such as the local-density approximation and the generalized gradient approximation. We have performed both all-electron (AE) and pseudopotential (PP) calculations using Slater-Jastrow wave functions with Hartree-Fock single-particle orbitals. Our results are in good agreement with coupled-cluster CCSD(T) calculations. We have also studied the relative stability of the hemibonded and hydrogen-bonded water radical dimer isomers. Our calculations indicate that the latter isomer is more stable, in agreement with post-Hartree-Fock methods. The excellent agreement between our AE and PP results demonstrates the high quality of the PPs used within our VMC and DMC calculations.     

Dissociation energy of the water dimer from quantum Monte Carlo calculations

We report a study of the electronic dissociation energy of the water dimer using quantum Monte Carlo techniques. We have performed variational quantum Monte Carlo and diffusion quantum Monte Carlo (DMC) calculations of the electronic ground state of the water monomer and dimer using all-electron and pseudopotential approaches. We have used Slater-Jastrow trial wave functions with B3LYP type single-particle orbitals, into which we have incorporated backflow correlations. When backflow correlations are introduced, the total energy of the water monomer decreases by about 4-5 mhartree, yielding a DMC energy of -76.428 30(5) hartree, which is only 10 mhartree above the experimental value. In our pseudopotential DMC calculations, we have compared the total energies of the water monomer and dimer obtained using the locality approximation with those from the variational scheme recently proposed by Casula [Phys. Rev. B 74, 161102(R) (2006)]. The time step errors in the Casula scheme are larger, and the extrapolation of the energy to zero time step always lies above the result obtained with the locality approximation. However, the errors cancel when energy differences are taken, yielding electronic dissociation energies within error bars of each other. The dissociation energies obtained in our various all-electron and pseudopotential calculations range between 5.03(7) and 5.47(9) kcalmol and are in good agreement with experiment. Our calculations give monomer dipole moments which range between 1.897(2) and 1.909(4) D and dimer dipole moments which range between 2.628(6) and 2.672(5) D.     

Electromagnetic scattering by a homogeneous chiral obstacle in a chiral environment

Time-harmonic electromagnetic waves are scattered by a homogeneouschiral obstacle embedded in a chiral environment. The correspondingtransmission problem is reduced, via Bohren's decomposition,to an integral equation over the interface between the obstacleand the surrounding medium. This integral equation is shownto be uniquely solvable except for a discrete set of electromagneticparameters of the obstacle.