Implementation of the multireference Brillouin-Wigner and Mukherjee's coupled cluster methods with non-iterative triple excitations utilizing reference-level parallelism

ΔDFT Predicts Inverted Singlet-Triplet Gaps with Chemical Accuracy at a Fraction of the Cost of Wave Function-Based Approaches

Efficient OLEDs need to quickly convert singlet and triplet excitons into photons. Molecules with an inverted singlet-triplet energy gap (INVEST) are promising candidates for this task. However, typical INVEST molecules have drawbacks like too low oscillator strengths and excitation energies. High-throughput screening could identify suitable INVEST molecules, but existing methods are problematic: The workhorse method TD-DFT cannot reproduce gap inversion, while wave function-based methods are too slow. This study proposes a state-specific method based on unrestricted Kohn-Sham DFT with common hybrid functionals. Tuned on the new INVEST15 benchmark set, this method achieves an error of less than 1 kcal/mol, which is traced back to error cancellation between spin contamination and dynamic correlation. Applied to the larger and structurally diverse NAH159 set in a black-box fashion, the method maintains a small error (1.2 kcal/mol) and accurately predicts gap signs in 83% of cases, confirming its robustness and suitability for screening workflows.

Role of Spin Polarization and Dynamic Correlation in Singlet-Triplet Gap Inversion of Heptazine Derivatives

The new generation of proposed light-emitting molecules for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) has raised considerable research interest due to its exceptional feature─a negative singlet-triplet (ST) gap violating Hund's multiplicity rule in the excited S1 and T1 states. We investigate the role of spin polarization in the mechanism of ST gap inversion. Spin polarization is associated with doubly excited determinants of certain types, whose presence in the wave function expansion favors the energy of the singlet state more than that of the triplet. Using a perturbation theory-based model for spin polarization, we propose a simple descriptor for prescreening of candidate molecules with negative ST gaps and prove its usefulness for heptazine-type molecules. Numerical results show that the quantitative effect of spin polarization decreases linearly with the increasing highest occupied molecular orbital-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (HOMO-LUMO) exchange integral. Comparison of single- and multireference coupled-cluster predictions of ST gaps shows that the former methods provide good accuracy by correctly balancing the effects of doubly excited determinants and dynamic correlation. We also show that accurate ST gaps may be obtained using a complete active space model supplemented with dynamic correlation from multireference adiabatic connection theory.

A systematic improvement to UGA-SSMRCCSD equations and its implication for potential energy curves

The Unitary Group Adaptation (UGA) offers a very compact and efficient spin adaptation strategy for any spin-free Hamiltonian in a many body framework. Our use of UGA in the context of state-specific (SS) Jeziorski-Monkhorst Ansatz based multireference coupled cluster (MRCC) theory obviates the non-commutativity between the spin-free cluster operators via a normal ordered exponential parametrization in the wave operator. A previous formulation of UGA-SSMRCC by us [R. Maitra, D. Sinha, and D. Mukherjee, J. Chem. Phys. 137, 024105 (2012)], using the same ansatz, employed certain sufficiency conditions to reach the final working equations, which cannot be improved systematically. In this article, we will present a more rigorous formulation that follows from an exact factorization of the unlinked terms of the Bloch equation, resulting in equations on which a hierarchy of approximations can be systematically performed on the emergent additional terms. This derivation was shown in our recent article [D. Chakravarti, S. Sen, and D. Mukherjee, Mol. Phys. 119, e1979676 (2021)] in the context of a single open shell CC formalism and was applied to spectroscopic energy differences where the contribution of the new terms was found to be of the order of ∼0.001 eV for ionization potential, electron affinity, and excitation energy. In the current work, we will present a comparison between the earlier and current formulations via both a theoretical analysis and a numerical demonstration of the dramatic effect of the additional terms brought in by the factorization on potential energy curves. The contribution of such terms was found to gain importance with an increase in the number of singly occupied active orbitals in the model space functions.

NWChem: Past, present, and future

Specialized computational chemistry packages have permanently reshaped the landscape of chemical and materials science by providing tools to support and guide experimental efforts and for the prediction of atomistic and electronic properties. In this regard, electronic structure packages have played a special role by using first-principle-driven methodologies to model complex chemical and materials processes. Over the past few decades, the rapid development of computing technologies and the tremendous increase in computational power have offered a unique chance to study complex transformations using sophisticated and predictive many-body techniques that describe correlated behavior of electrons in molecular and condensed phase systems at different levels of theory. In enabling these simulations, novel parallel algorithms have been able to take advantage of computational resources to address the polynomial scaling of electronic structure methods. In this paper, we briefly review the NWChem computational chemistry suite, including its history, design principles, parallel tools, current capabilities, outreach, and outlook.

Sign Learning Kink-based (SiLK) Quantum Monte Carlo for molecular systems

The Sign Learning Kink (SiLK) based Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) method is used to calculate the ab initio ground state energies for multiple geometries of the H2O, N2, and F2 molecules. The method is based on Feynman's path integral formulation of quantum mechanics and has two stages. The first stage is called the learning stage and reduces the well-known QMC minus sign problem by optimizing the linear combinations of Slater determinants which are used in the second stage, a conventional QMC simulation. The method is tested using different vector spaces and compared to the results of other quantum chemical methods and to exact diagonalization. Our findings demonstrate that the SiLK method is accurate and reduces or eliminates the minus sign problem.

Iterative universal state selective correction for the Brillouin-Wigner multireference coupled-cluster theory

As a further development of the previously introduced a posteriori Universal State-Selective (USS) corrections [K. Kowalski, J. Chem. Phys. 134, 194107 (2011); J. Brabec et al., ibid. 136, 124102 (2012)], we suggest an iterative form of the USS correction by means of correcting effective Hamiltonian matrix elements. We also formulate USS corrections via the left Bloch equations. The convergence of the USS corrections with excitation level towards the full configuration interaction (FCI) limit is also investigated. Various forms of the USS and simplified diagonal USS corrections at the singles and doubles and perturbative triple levels are numerically assessed on several model systems and on the ozone and tetramethyleneethane molecules. It is shown that the iterative USS correction can successfully replace the previously developed a posteriori Brillouin-Wigner coupled cluster size-extensivity correction, while it is not sensitive to intruder states and performs well also in other cases when the a posteriori one fails, like, e.g., for the asymmetric vibration mode of ozone.