Direct perturbation theory in terms of energy derivatives: fourth-order relativistic corrections at the Hartree-Fock level

In this work, the quantum-chemical treatment of relativistic effects by means of direct perturbation theory is extended from its lowest order, DPT2, to the next higher order, DPT4. The required theory is given in terms of energy derivatives with the DPT4 energy correction defined as the corresponding second derivative with respect to the relativistic perturbation parameter λ(rel) = c(2) and c as the speed of light. To facilitate the implementation in standard quantum-chemical program packages, a general formulation of DPT starting from a nonrelativistic Lagrangian is developed, thereby expanding both wave function and operators in terms of λ(rel). The corresponding expressions, which incorporate in an additive manner scalar-relativistic and spin-orbit contributions, are given at the Hartree-Fock level and have been implemented in the CFOUR program package using the available analytic second-derivative techniques. The accuracy of the DPT4 corrections at the HF level is investigated by comparison with rigorous four-component calculations. Scalar-relativistic and spin-orbit contributions are analyzed individually and the importance of the various terms to those corrections is discussed. Furthermore, the basis-set dependence of the computed DPT4 corrections is investigated.