A low-cost approach to electronic excitation energies based on the driven similarity renormalization group

Assessment of State-Averaged Driven Similarity Renormalization Group on Vertical Excitation Energies: Optimal Flow Parameters and Applications to Nucleobases

We present a comprehensive excited-state benchmark for the state-averaged (SA) driven similarity renormalization group (DSRG) [Li, C.; Evangelista, F. A. J. Chem. Phys. 2018, 148, 124106]. Following the QUEST database [Véril, M.; Scemama, A.; Caffarel, M.; Lipparini, F.; Boggio-Pasqua, M.; Jacquemin, D.; Loos, P.-F. Wiley Interdiscip. Rev. Comput. Mol. Sci. 2021, 11, e1517], 280 vertical transition energies of 35 medium-sized molecules are computed using the SA-DSRG derived second- and third-order perturbation theories (PT2/PT3) along with a nonperturbative approach [sq-LDSRG(2)]. Comparing to the theoretical best estimates, the optimal flow parameter is found to be 0.35 and 2.0 Eh-2 for SA-DSRG-PT2 and SA-DSRG-PT3, respectively. For SA-sq-LDSRG(2), a flow parameter of 1.5 Eh-2 provides converged equations without compromising the accuracy. We then assess the accuracy of the SA-DSRG hierarchy using these parameters. The SA-DSRG-PT2 scheme outperforms the level-shifted CASPT2 by 0.10 eV in mean absolute error (MAE), yet this accuracy is slightly inferior than that of CASPT2 with the ionization-potential-electron-affinity shift. Both SA-DSRG-PT3 and SA-sq-LDSRG(2) yield a MAE of 0.10 eV, which is comparable to that of CASPT3 (0.09 eV). Finally, we compute vertical excitation energies of several low-lying singlet states of nucleobases. The SA-sq-LDSRG(2) approach provides highly accurate results for π → π* excitations, while n → π* transitions are better described by SA-DSRG-PT3.

Analytic gradients for the single-reference driven similarity renormalization group second-order perturbation theory

We derive and implement analytic energy gradients for the single-reference driven similarity renormalization group second-order perturbation theory (DSRG-PT2). The resulting equations possess an asymptotic scaling that is identical to that of the second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2), indicating that the exponential regularizer in the DSRG equations does not introduce formal difficulties in the gradient theory. We apply the DSRG-PT2 method to optimizing the geometries of 15 small molecules. The equilibrium bond lengths computed with DSRG-PT2 are found similar to those of MP2, yielding a mean absolute error of 0.0033 Å and a standard deviation of 0.0045 Å when compared with coupled cluster with singles, doubles, and perturbative triples.

Multireference Theories of Electron Correlation Based on the Driven Similarity Renormalization Group

The driven similarity renormalization group (DSRG) provides an alternative way to address the intruder state problem in quantum chemistry. In this review, we discuss recent developments of multireference methods based on the DSRG. We provide a pedagogical introduction to the DSRG and its various extensions and discuss its formal properties in great detail. In addition, we report several illustrative applications of the DSRG to molecular systems.

Benchmarks for Electronically Excited States with CASSCF Methods

The accuracy of three different complete active space (CAS) self-consistent field (CASSCF) methods is investigated for the electronically excited-state benchmark set of Schreiber , M. ; et al. J. Chem. Phys. 2008 , 128 , 134110 . Comparison of the CASSCF linear response (LR) methods MC-RPA and MC-TDA and the state-averaged (SA) CASSCF method is made for 122 singlet excitation energies and 69 oscillator strengths. Of all CASSCF methods, when considering the complete test set, MC-RPA performs best for both excitation energies and oscillator strengths with a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.74 eV and 51%, respectively. MC-TDA and SA-CASSCF show a similar accuracy for the excitation energies with a MAE of ∼1 eV with respect to more accurate coupled cluster (CC3) excitation energies. The opposite trend is observed for the subset of n → π* excitation energies for which SA-CASSCF exhibits the least deviations (MAE 0.65 eV). By looking at s-tetrazine in more detail, we conclude that better performance for the n → π* SA-CASSCF excitation energies can be attributed to a fortunate error compensation. For oscillator strengths, SA-CASSCF performs worst for the complete test set (MAE 100%) as well as for the subsets of n → π* (MAE 192%) and π → π* excitations (MAE 84.9%). In general, CASSCF gives the worst performance for excitation energies of all excited-state ab initio methods considered so far due to lacking the major part of dynamic electron correlation, though MC-RPA and TD-DFT (BP86) show similar performance. Among all LR-type methods, LR-CASSCF oscillator strengths are the ones with the least accuracy for the same reason. As state-specific orbital relaxation effects are accounted for in LR-CASSCF, oscillator strengths are significantly more accurate than those of MS-CASPT2. Our findings should encourage further developments of response theory-based multireference methods with higher accuracy and feasibility.