Third-order interactions in symmetry-adapted perturbation theory

We present an extension of many-body symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (SAPT) by including all third-order polarization and exchange contributions obtained with the neglect of intramonomer correlation effects. The third-order polarization energy, which naturally decomposes into the induction, dispersion, and mixed, induction-dispersion components, is significantly quenched at short range by electron exchange effects. We propose a decomposition of the total third-order exchange energy into the exchange-induction, exchange-dispersion, and exchange-induction-dispersion contributions which provide the quenching for the corresponding individual polarization contributions. All components of the third-order energy have been expressed in terms of molecular integrals and orbital energies. The obtained formulas, valid for both dimer- and monomer-centered basis sets, have been implemented within the general closed-shell many-electron SAPT program. Test calculations for several small dimers have been performed and their results are presented. For dispersion-bound dimers, the inclusion of the third-order effects eliminates the need for a hybrid SAPT approach, involving supermolecular Hartree-Fock calculations. For dimers consisting of strongly polar monomers, the hybrid approach remains more accurate. It is shown that, due to the extent of the quenching, the third-order polarization effects should be included only together with their exchange counterparts. Furthermore, the latter have to be calculated exactly, rather than estimated by scaling the second-order values.