A Quasi Time-Reversible Scheme Based on Density Matrix Extrapolation on the Grassmann Manifold for Born-Oppenheimer Molecular Dynamics

Second-Order Mass-Weighting Scheme for Atom-Centered Density Matrix Propagation Molecular Dynamics

The atom-centered density matrix propagation (ADMP) method is an extended Lagrangian approach to ab initio molecular dynamics, which includes the density matrix in an orthonormalized atom-centered Gaussian basis as additional, fictitious, electronic degrees of freedom, classically propagated along with the nuclear ones. A high adiabaticity between the nuclear and electronic subsystems is mandatory in order to keep the trajectory close to the Born-Oppenheimer (BO) surface. In this regard, the fictitious electronic mass μ, being a symmetric, nondiagonal matrix in its most general form, represents a free parameter, exploitable to optimize the propagation of the electronic density. Although mass-weighting schemes in ADMP exist, a systematic procedure to define an optimal value of the fictitious masses is not available yet. In this work, in order to rationally evaluate the electronic mass, fictitious electronic normal modes are defined through the diagonalization of the Hessian of the electronic density matrix. If the same frequency is imposed on all such modes (compatible with the chosen integration time step), then the corresponding μ matrix can be calculated and then employed for the following propagation. Analysis of several ADMP test simulations reveals that such Hessian-based mass-weighting approach is able to ensure, together with a 0.1/0.2 fs time steps, a high separation between the (real) nuclear and the (fictitious) electronic frequencies, which determines a high adiabaticity. This high, unprecedented, accuracy in the propagation leads, in turn, to low errors in the estimated nuclear vibrational frequencies, making the ADMP method totally comparable to a fully converged BO molecular dynamics simulation but more computationally efficient. This work, therefore, contributes to a further development of the ADMP ab initio molecular dynamics method, aimed at improving its accuracy through a more rational evaluation of the fictitious electronic mass parameter.

Geometric Optimization of Restricted-Open and Complete Active Space Self-Consistent Field Wave Functions

We explore Riemannian optimization methods for Restricted-Open-shell Hartree-Fock (ROHF) and Complete Active Space Self-Consistent Field (CASSCF) methods. After showing that ROHF and CASSCF can be reformulated as optimization problems on so-called "flag manifolds", we review Riemannian optimization basics and their application to these specific problems. We compare these methods to traditional ones and find robust convergence properties without fine-tuning of numerical parameters. Our study suggests that Riemannian optimization is a valuable addition to orbital optimization for ROHF and CASSCF, warranting further investigation.

Mapping spin contamination-free potential energy surfaces using restricted open-shell methods with Grassmannians

The Lagrange-based Grassmann interpolation (G-Int) method has been extended for open-shell systems using restricted open-shell (RO) methods. The performance of this method was assessed in constructing potential energy surfaces (PESs) for vanadium(II) oxide, benzyl radical, and methanesulfenyl chloride radical cation. The density matrices generated by G-Int when used as initial guesses for self-consistent field (SCF) calculations, exhibit superior performance compared to other traditional SCF initial guess schemes, such as SADMO, GWH, and CORE. Additionally, the energy obtained from the G-Int scheme satisfies the variational principle and outperforms the direct energy-based Lagrange interpolation approach. In the case of methanesulfenyl chloride radical cation, a unique example with a flat PES at the end region along the H-C-S-Cl dihedral angle, the use of an equally-spaced grid sampling leads to significant oscillations near the end of the interval due to the effects of Runge's phenomenon. Introducing an unequally-spaced grid sampling based on a scaled Gauss-Chebyshev quadrature effectively mitigated the Runge's phenomenon, making it suitable for combining with G-Int in constructing PESs for general applications. Thus, G-Int provides an efficient and robust strategy for building spin contamination-free PESs with consistent accuracy.