: The unpolarized absorption and circular dichroism spectra of the fundamental vibrational transitions of the chiral molecule, 4-methyl-2-oxetanone, are calculated ab initio. Harmonic force fields are obtained using Density Functional Theory (DFT), MP2, and SCF methodologies and a 5S4P2D/3S2P (TZ2P) basis set. DFT calculations use the Local Spin Density Approximation (LSDA), BLYP, and Becke3LYP (B3LYP) density functionals. Mid-IR spectra predicted using LSDA, BLYP, and B3LYP force fields are of significantly different quality, the B3LYP force field yielding spectra in clearly superior, and overall excellent, agreement with experiment. The MP2 force field yields spectra in slightly worse agreement with experiment than the B3LYP force field. The SCF force field yields spectra in poor agreement with experiment.The basis set dependence of B3LYP force fields is also explored: the 6-31G* and TZ2P basis sets give very similar results while the 3-21G basis set yields spectra in substantially worse agreements with experiment. jg

Ab initio calculation of vibrational absorption and circular dichroism spectra using density functional force fields

The ab-initio density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) is a tool that can be applied to a wide variety of interesting problems in quantum chemistry. Here, we examine the density matrix renormalization group from the vantage point of the quantum chemistry user. What kinds of problems is the DMRG well-suited to? What are the largest systems that can be treated at practical cost? What sort of accuracies can be obtained, and how do we reason about the computational difficulty in different molecules? By examining a diverse benchmark set of molecules: π-electron systems, benchmark main-group and transition metal dimers, and the Mn-oxo-salen and Fe-porphine organometallic compounds, we provide some answers to these questions, and show how the density matrix renormalization group is used in practice.

The ab-initio density matrix renormalization group in practice

Modeling properties of chemical species and chemical reactions requires usually the quantum-mechanical level of description. Methods from the ever-growing toolbox of quantum chemistry1,2 are used for this purpose. Due to unfavorable scaling of quantum chemistry methods, a compromise must be made between the accuracy of the numerical results and the size of the system described at the wave function level. The same strategy can be extended for separating molecular fragments or molecules. Nonlocal embedding operators based on either transferrable pseudopotentials or frozen orbitals obtained from localization procedures have been developed in many groups. The essential feature of all such local potentials is that they comprise a component which takes into account the intermolecular Pauli repulsion.

/pdf/frozen-density-embedding-strategy-for-multilevel-simulations-4gvt4z10eb.pdf

Frozen-Density Embedding Strategy for Multilevel Simulations of Electronic Structure.

Understanding the properties of electronically excited states is a challenging task that becomes increasingly important for numerous applications in chemistry, molecular physics, molecular biology, and materials science. A substantial impact is exerted by the fascinating progress in time-resolved spectroscopy, which leads to a strongly growing demand for theoretical methods to describe the characteristic features of excited states accurately. Whereas for electronic ground state problems of stable molecules the quantum chemical methodology is now so well developed that informed nonexperts can use it efficiently, the situation is entirely different concerning the investigation of excited states. This review is devoted to a specific class of approaches, usually denoted as multireference (MR) methods, the generality of which is needed for solving many spectroscopic or photodynamical problems. However, the understanding and proper application of these MR methods is often found to be difficult due to their comp...

/pdf/multireference-approaches-for-excited-states-of-molecules-217lxoiwiw.pdf

Multireference Approaches for Excited States of Molecules.

One of the key challenges of quantum-chemical multi-configuration methods is the necessity to manually select orbitals for the active space. This selection requires both expertise and experience and can therefore impose severe limitations on the applicability of this most general class of ab initio methods. A poor choice of the active orbital space may yield even qualitatively wrong results. This is obviously a severe problem, especially for wave function methods that are designed to be systematically improvable. Here, we show how the iterative nature of the density matrix renormalization group combined with its capability to include up to about 100 orbitals in the active space can be exploited for a systematic assessment and selection of active orbitals. These benefits allow us to implement an automated approach for active orbital space selection, which can turn multi-configuration models into black box approaches.

Automated Selection of Active Orbital Spaces.

Electron correlation effects are essential for an accurate ab initio description of molecules. A quantitative a priori knowledge of the single- or multi-reference nature of electronic structures as well as of the dominant contributions to the correlation energy can facilitate the decision regarding the optimum quantum chemical method of choice. We propose concepts from quantum information theory as orbital entanglement measures that allow us to evaluate the single- and multi-reference character of any molecular structure in a given orbital basis set. By studying these measures we can detect possible artifacts of small active spaces.

Entanglement Measures for Single- and Multi-Reference Correlation Effects

Electron correlation effects are essential for an accurate ab initio description of molecules. A quantitative a priori knowledge of the single- or multireference nature of electronic structures as well as of the dominant contributions to the correlation energy can facilitate the decision regarding the optimum quantum chemical method of choice. We propose concepts from quantum information theory as orbital entanglement measures that allow us to evaluate the single- and multireference character of any molecular structure in a given orbital basis set. By studying these measures we can detect possible artifacts of small active spaces.

Entanglement Measures for Single- and Multireference Correlation Effects.

We present an efficient approach to the electron correlation problem that is well suited for strongly interacting many-body systems, but requires only mean-field-like computational cost. The performance of our approach is illustrated for one-dimensional Hubbard rings with different numbers of sites, and for the nonrelativistic quantum-chemical Hamiltonian exploring the symmetric dissociation of the H${}_{50}$ hydrogen chain.

/pdf/efficient-description-of-strongly-correlated-electrons-with-4ri70uneou.pdf

Efficient description of strongly correlated electrons with mean-field cost

The accurate calculation of the (differential) correlation energy is central to the quantum chemical description of bond-formation and bond-dissociation processes. In order to estimate the quality of single- and multireference approaches for this purpose, various diagnostic tools have been developed. In this work, we elaborate on our previous observation [J. Phys. Chem. Lett.2012, 3, 3129] that one- and two-orbital-based entanglement measures provide quantitative means for the assessment and classification of electron correlation effects among molecular orbitals. The dissociation behavior of some prototypical diatomic molecules features all types of correlation effects relevant for chemical bonding. We demonstrate that our entanglement analysis is convenient to dissect these electron correlation effects and to provide a conceptual understanding of bond-forming and bond-breaking processes from the point of view of quantum information theory.

Orbital Entanglement in Bond-Formation Processes

The performance of the time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) approach has been evaluated for the electronic spectrum of the UO(2)(2+), NUO(+) and NUN molecules. Different exchange-correlation functionals (LDA, PBE, BLYP, B3LYP, PBE0, M06, M06-L, M06-2X, CAM-B3LYP) and the SAOP model potential have been investigated, as has the relative importance of the adiabatic local density approximation (ALDA) to the exchange-correlation kernel. The vertical excitation energies have been compared with reference data obtained using accurate wave-function theory (WFT) methods.

/pdf/electronic-spectroscopy-of-uo22-nuo-and-nun-an-evaluation-of-184gkhdgaf.pdf

Paweł Tecmer

Papers

Entanglement Measures for Single- and Multi-Reference Correlation Effects

Entanglement Measures for Single- and Multireference Correlation Effects.

Efficient description of strongly correlated electrons with mean-field cost

Orbital Entanglement in Bond-Formation Processes

Electronic spectroscopy of UO22+, NUO+ and NUN: an evaluation of time-dependent density functional theory for actinides