Reduction of Electronic Wave Functions to Kohn-Sham Effective Potentials

Exact and Model Exchange-Correlation Potentials for Open-Shell Systems

The conventional approaches to the inverse density functional theory problem typically assume nondegeneracy of the Kohn-Sham (KS) eigenvalues, greatly hindering their use in open-shell systems. We present a generalization of the inverse density functional theory problem that can seamlessly admit degenerate KS eigenvalues. Additionally, we allow for fractional occupancy of the Kohn-Sham orbitals to also handle noninteracting ensemble-v-representable densities, as opposed to just noninteracting pure-v-representable densities. We present the exact exchange-correlation (XC) potentials for six open-shell systems─four atoms (Li, C, N, and O) and two molecules (CN and CH2)─using accurate ground-state densities from configuration interaction calculations. We compare these exact XC potentials with model XC potentials obtained using nonlocal (B3LYP, SCAN0) and local/semilocal (SCAN, PBE, PW92) XC functionals. Although the relative errors in the densities obtained from these DFT functionals are of O (10-3 to 10-2), the relative errors in the model XC potentials remain substantially large─O (10-1 to 100).

Local Potentials Reconstructed within Linearly Independent Product Basis Sets of Increasing Size

Given a matrix representation of a local potential v(r) within a one-electron basis set of functions that form linearly independent products (LIP), it is possible to construct a well-defined local potential v ~ ( r ) that is equivalent to v(r) within that basis set and has the form of an expansion in basis function products. Recently, we showed that for exchange-correlation potentials vXC(r) defined on the infinite-dimensional Hilbert space, the potentials v ~ XC ( r ) reconstructed from matrices of vXC(r) within minimal LIP basis sets of occupied Kohn-Sham orbitals bear only qualitative resemblance to the originals. Here, we show that if the LIP basis set is enlarged by including low-lying virtual Kohn-Sham orbitals, the agreement between v ~ XC ( r ) and vXC(r) improves to the extent that the basis function products are appropriate as a basis for vXC(r). These findings validate the LIP technology as a rigorous potential reconstruction method.

DFT exchange: sharing perspectives on the workhorse of quantum chemistry and materials science

In this paper, the history, present status, and future of density-functional theory (DFT) is informally reviewed and discussed by 70 workers in the field, including molecular scientists, materials scientists, method developers and practitioners. The format of the paper is that of a roundtable discussion, in which the participants express and exchange views on DFT in the form of 302 individual contributions, formulated as responses to a preset list of 26 questions. Supported by a bibliography of 777 entries, the paper represents a broad snapshot of DFT, anno 2022.

Reconstruction of Exchange-Correlation Potentials from Their Matrix Representations

Within a basis set of one-electron functions that form linearly independent products (LIPs), it is always possible to construct a unique local (multiplicative) real-space potential that is precisely equivalent to an arbitrary given operator. Although standard basis sets of quantum chemistry rarely form LIPs in a numerical sense, occupied and low-lying virtual canonical Kohn-Sham orbitals often do so, at least for small atoms and molecules. Using these principles, we construct atomic and molecular exchange-correlation potentials from their matrix representations in LIP basis sets of occupied canonical Kohn-Sham orbitals. The reconstructions are found to imitate the original potentials in a consistent but exaggerated way. Since the original and reconstructed potentials produce the same ground-state electron density and energy within the associated LIP basis set, the procedure may be regarded as a rigorous solution to the Kohn-Sham inversion problem within the subspace spanned by the occupied Kohn-Sham orbitals.

Numerically stable inversion approach to construct Kohn-Sham potentials for given electron densities within a Gaussian basis set framework

We present a Kohn-Sham (KS) inversion approach to construct KS exchange-correlation potentials corresponding to given electron densities. This method is based on an iterative procedure using linear response to update potentials. All involved quantities, i.e., orbitals, potentials, and response functions, are represented by Gaussian basis functions. In contrast to previous KS inversion methods relying on Gaussian basis sets, the method presented here is numerically stable even for standard basis sets from basis set libraries due to a preprocessing of the auxiliary basis used to represent an exchange-correlation charge density that generates the exchange-correlation potential. The new KS inversion method is applied to reference densities of various atoms and molecules obtained by full configuration interaction or CCSD(T) (coupled cluster singles doubles perturbative triples). The considered examples encompass cases known to be difficult, such as stretched hydrogen or lithium hydride molecules or the beryllium isoelectronic series. For the stretched hydrogen molecule, potentials of benchmark quality are obtained by employing large basis sets. For the carbon monoxide molecule, we show that the correlation potential from the random phase approximation (RPA) is in excellent qualitative and quantitative agreement with the correlation potential from the KS inversion of a CCSD(T) reference density. This indicates that RPA correlation potentials, in contrast to those from semi-local density-functionals, resemble the exact correlation potential. Besides providing exchange-correlation potentials for benchmark purposes, the proposed KS inversion method may be used in density-partition-based quantum embedding and in subsystem density-functional methods because it combines numerical stability with computational efficiency.

Density inversion method for local basis sets without potential auxiliary functions: inverting densities from RDMFT

A density inversion method is presented, to obtain the constrained, optimal, local potential that has a prescribed asymptotic behaviour and reproduces optimally any given ground-state electronic density. This work builds...

A Comparison of Exact and Model Exchange-Correlation Potentials for Molecules

Accurate exchange-correlation (XC) potentials for three-dimensional systems─via solution of the inverse density functional theory (DFT) problem─are now available to test the quality of DFT approximations. Herein, the exact XC potential for seven molecules─dihydrogen at four different bond-lengths, lithium hydride, water, and ortho-benzyne─are computed from full configuration interaction reference densities. These are compared to model XC potentials from nonlocal (B3LYP, HSE06, SCAN0, and M08-HX) and semilocal/local (SCAN, PBE, and PW92) XC functionals. Whereas for most systems, relative errors in the ground-state densities are O(10-3-10-2), the model XC potentials have much higher errors of O(10-1-100). Among the model XC functionals, SCAN0 offers the best agreement with the exact XC potential, underlining the significance of satisfying exact conditions as well as including nonlocal effects in XC functionals. This work indicates that tests against the exact XC potential will provide a promising new direction for building more accurate XC functionals for DFT.

Self-interaction-corrected Kohn-Sham effective potentials using the density-consistent effective potential method

Density functional theory (DFT) and beyond-DFT methods are often used in combination with photoelectron spectroscopy to obtain physical insights into the electronic structure of molecules and solids. The Kohn-Sham eigenvalues are not electron removal energies except for the highest occupied orbital. The eigenvalues of the highest occupied molecular orbitals often underestimate the electron removal or ionization energies due to the self-interaction (SI) errors in approximate density functionals. In this work, we adapt and implement the density-consistent effective potential method of Kohut, Ryabinkin, and Staroverov [J. Chem. Phys. 140, 18A535 (2014)] to obtain SI-corrected local effective potentials from the SI-corrected Fermi-Löwdin orbitals and density in the Fermi-Löwdin orbital self-interaction correction scheme. The implementation is used to obtain the density of states (photoelectron spectra) and HOMO-LUMO gaps for a set of molecules and polyacenes. Good agreement with experimental values is obtained compared to a range of SI uncorrected density functional approximations.

Inverse Kohn-Sham Density Functional Theory: Progress and Challenges

Inverse Kohn-Sham (iKS) methods are needed to fully understand the one-to-one mapping between densities and potentials on which density functional theory is based. They can contribute to the construction of empirical exchange-correlation functionals and to the development of techniques for density-based embedding. Unlike the forward Kohn-Sham problems, numerical iKS problems are ill-posed and can be unstable. We discuss some of the fundamental and practical difficulties of iKS problems with constrained-optimization methods on finite basis sets. Various factors that affect the performance are systematically compared and discussed, both analytically and numerically, with a focus on two of the most practical methods: the Wu-Yang method (WY) and the partial differential equation constrained optimization (PDE-CO). Our analysis of the WY and PDE-CO highlights the limitation of finite basis sets. We introduce new ideas to make iKS problems more tractable, provide an overall strategy for performing numerical density-to-potential inversions, and discuss challenges and future directions.

Reduction of Hartree-Fock Wavefunctions to Kohn-Sham Effective Potentials Using Multiresolution Analysis

We present a highly accurate numerical implementation for computing the Kohn-Sham effective potentials for molecules based on a Hartree-Fock wavefunction and density, following the RKS approach of Staroverov and co-workers [ J. Chem. Phys. 2014, 140, 18A535]. Potentials and orbitals are represented in a multiresolution wavelet basis, avoiding basis set incompleteness-related issues. Together with the RKS method, the often occurring problems of oscillating potentials are removed. The MRA implementation of the RKS method allows the generation of molecular Kohn-Sham potentials of benchmark quality. Numerical data for atoms up to Kr and a number of molecules are given, with a special emphasis on the role of nodal planes in the calculations, as showcased in HCN and benzene.

Asymptotic behavior of the average local ionization energy in finite basis sets

The average local ionization energy (ALIE) has important applications in several areas of electronic structure theory. Theoretically, the ALIE should asymptotically approach the first vertical ionization energy (IE) of the system, as implied by the rate of exponential decay of the electron density; for one-determinantal wavefunctions, this IE is the negative of the highest-occupied orbital energy. In practice, finite-basis-set representations of the ALIE exhibit seemingly irregular and sometimes dramatic deviations from the expected asymptotic behavior. We analyze the long-range behavior of the ALIE in finite basis sets and explain the puzzling observations. The findings have implications for practical calculations of the ALIE, the construction of Kohn-Sham potentials from wavefunctions and electron densities, and basis-set development.

Measuring Density-Driven Errors Using Kohn-Sham Inversion

Kohn-Sham (KS) inversion, that is, the finding of the exact KS potential for a given density, is difficult in localized basis sets. We study the precision and reliability of several inversion schemes, finding estimates of density-driven errors at a useful level of accuracy. In typical cases of substantial density-driven errors, Hartree-Fock density functional theory (HF-DFT) is almost as accurate as DFT evaluated on CCSD(T) densities. A simple approximation in practical HF-DFT also makes errors much smaller than the density-driven errors being calculated. Two paradigm examples, stretched NaCl and the HO·Cl^- radical, illustrate just how accurate HF-DFT is.

Exchange-Correlation Energy Densities and Response Potentials: Connection between Two Definitions and Analytical Model for the Strong-Coupling Limit of a Stretched Bond

We analyze in depth two widely used definitions (from the theory of conditional probability amplitudes and from the adiabatic connection formalism) of the exchange-correlation energy density and of the response potential of Kohn–Sham density functional theory. We introduce a local form of the coupling-constant-dependent Hohenberg–Kohn functional, showing that the difference between the two definitions is due to a corresponding local first-order term in the coupling constant, which disappears globally (when integrated over all space), but not locally. We also design an analytic representation for the response potential in the strong-coupling limit of density functional theory for a model single stretched bond.

Exact exchange-correlation potentials from ground-state electron densities

The quest for accurate exchange-correlation functionals has long remained a grand challenge in density functional theory (DFT), as it describes the many-electron quantum mechanical behavior through a computationally tractable quantity-the electron density-without resorting to multi-electron wave functions. The inverse DFT problem of mapping the ground-state density to its exchange-correlation potential is instrumental in aiding functional development in DFT. However, the lack of an accurate and systematically convergent approach has left the problem unresolved, heretofore. This work presents a numerically robust and accurate scheme to evaluate the exact exchange-correlation potentials from correlated ab-initio densities. We cast the inverse DFT problem as a constrained optimization problem and employ a finite-element basis-a systematically convergent and complete basis-to discretize the problem. We demonstrate the accuracy and efficacy of our approach for both weakly and strongly correlated molecular systems, including up to 58 electrons, showing relevance to realistic polyatomic molecules.

What Is the Accuracy Limit of Adiabatic Linear-Response TDDFT Using Exact Exchange-Correlation Potentials and Approximate Kernels?

Calculation of vertical excitation energies by the adiabatic linear-response time-dependent density-functional theory (TDDFT) requires static Kohn-Sham potentials and exchange-correlation kernels. When these quantities are derived from standard density-functional approximations (DFA), mean absolute errors (MAE) of the method are known to range from 0.2 eV to over 1 eV, depending on the functional and type of excitation. We investigate how the performance of TDDFT varies when increasingly accurate exchange-correlation potentials derived from Hartree-Fock (HF) and post-HF wavefunctions are combined with different approximate kernels. The lowest MAEs obtained in this manner for valence excitations are about 0.15-0.2 eV, which appears to be the practical limit of the accuracy of TDDFT that can be achieved by improving the Kohn-Sham potentials alone. These findings are consistent with previous reports on the benefits of accurate exchange-correlation potentials in TDDFT, but provide new insights and afford more definitive conclusions.

Investigation of the Exchange-Correlation Potentials of Functionals Based on the Adiabatic Connection Interpolation

We have studied the correlation potentials produced by various adiabatic connection models (ACMs) for several atoms and molecules. The results have been compared to accurate reference potentials (coupled cluster and quantum Monte Carlo results) as well as to state-of-the-art ab initio DFT approaches. We have found that all the ACMs yield correlation potentials that exhibit a correct behavior, quite resembling scaled second-order Görling-Levy (GL2) potentials and including most of the physically meaningful features of the accurate reference data. The behavior and contribution of the strong-interaction limit potentials have also been investigated and discussed.

Asymptotic behavior of the Hartree-exchange and correlation potentials in ensemble density functional theory

We show that the Hartree-exchange and correlation potentials of ensemble systems can have unexpected features, including non-vanishing asymptotic constants and non-trivial screening of electrons. These features are demonstrated here on Li, C, and F.

Kinetic-energy-based error quantification in Kohn–Sham density functional theory

We present a basis-independent metric to assess the quality of the electron density obtained from Kohn–Sham (KS) density functional theory (DFT).

Visualizing atomic sizes and molecular shapes with the classical turning surface of the Kohn-Sham potential

The Kohn-Sham potential [Formula: see text] is the effective multiplicative operator in a noninteracting Schrödinger equation that reproduces the ground-state density of a real (interacting) system. The sizes and shapes of atoms, molecules, and solids can be defined in terms of Kohn-Sham potentials in a nonarbitrary way that accords with chemical intuition and can be implemented efficiently, permitting a natural pictorial representation for chemistry and condensed-matter physics. Let [Formula: see text] be the maximum occupied orbital energy of the noninteracting electrons. Then the equation [Formula: see text] defines the surface at which classical electrons with energy [Formula: see text] would be turned back and thus determines the surface of any electronic object. Atomic and ionic radii defined in this manner agree well with empirical estimates, show regular chemical trends, and allow one to identify the type of chemical bonding between two given atoms by comparing the actual internuclear distance to the sum of atomic radii. The molecular surfaces can be fused (for a covalent bond), seamed (ionic bond), necked (hydrogen bond), or divided (van der Waals bond). This contribution extends the pioneering work of Z.-Z. Yang et al. [Yang ZZ, Davidson ER (1997) Int J Quantum Chem 62:47-53; Zhao DX, et al. (2018) Mol Phys 116:969-977] by our consideration of the Kohn-Sham potential, protomolecules, doubly negative atomic ions, a bond-type parameter, seamed and necked molecular surfaces, and a more extensive table of atomic and ionic radii that are fully consistent with expected periodic trends.

Response Potential in the Strong-Interaction Limit of Density Functional Theory: Analysis and Comparison with the Coupling-Constant Average

Using the formalism of the conditional amplitude, we study the response part of the exchange-correlation potential in the strong-coupling limit of density functional theory, analyzing its peculiar features and comparing it with the response potential averaged over the coupling constant for small atoms and for the hydrogen molecule. We also use a simple one-dimensional model of a stretched heteronuclear molecule to derive exact properties of the response potential in the strong-coupling limit. The simplicity of the model allows us to unveil relevant features also of the exact Kohn-Sham potential and its different components, namely the appearance of a second peak in the correlation kinetic potential on the side of the most electronegative atom.

Kinetic-Energy Density-Functional Theory on a Lattice

We present a kinetic-energy density-functional theory and the corresponding kinetic-energy Kohn–Sham (keKS) scheme on a lattice and show that, by including more observables explicitly in a density-functional approach, already simple approximation strategies lead to very accurate results. Here, we promote the kinetic-energy density to a fundamental variable alongside the density and show for specific cases (analytically and numerically) that there is a one-to-one correspondence between the external pair of on-site potential and site-dependent hopping and the internal pair of density and kinetic-energy density. On the basis of this mapping, we establish two unknown effective fields, the mean-field exchange-correlation potential and the mean-field exchange-correlation hopping, which force the keKS system to generate the same kinetic-energy density and density as the fully interacting one. We show, by a decomposition based on the equations of motions for the density and the kinetic-energy density, that we can construct simple orbital-dependent functionals that outperform the corresponding exact-exchange Kohn–Sham (KS) approximation of standard density-functional theory. We do so by considering the exact KS and keKS systems and comparing the unknown correlation contributions as well as by comparing self-consistent calculations based on the mean-field exchange (for the effective potential) and a uniform (for the effective hopping) approximation for the keKS and the exact-exchange approximation for the KS system, respectively.

Distinguishing Bonds

The energy change per electron in a chemical or physical transformation, ΔE/n, may be expressed as Δχ̅ + Δ(VNN + ω)/n, where Δχ̅ is the average electron binding energy, a generalized electronegativity, ΔVNN is the change in nuclear repulsions, and Δω is the change in multielectron interactions in the process considered. The last term can be obtained by the difference from experimental or theoretical estimates of the first terms. Previously obtained consequences of this energy partitioning are extended here to a different analysis of bonding in a great variety of diatomics, including more or less polar ones. Arguments are presented for associating the average change in electron binding energy with covalence, and the change in multielectron interactions with electron transfer, either to, out, or within a molecule. A new descriptor Q, essentially the scaled difference between the Δχ̅ and Δ(VNN + ω)/n terms, when plotted versus the bond energy, separates nicely a wide variety of bonding types, covalent, covalent but more correlated, polar and increasingly ionic, metallogenic, electrostatic, charge-shift bonds, and dispersion interactions. Also, Q itself shows a set of interesting relations with the correlation energy of a bond.

Origin of the step structure of molecular exchange–correlation potentials

The step structure of exact exchange–correlation potentials is linked to the properties of the average local electron energy (ALEE).

The effect of nitrido, azide, and nitrosyl ligands on magnetization densities and magnetic properties of iridium PNP pincer-type complexes

The magnetisation density of different iridium PNP pincer-type complexes depends on the chosen quantum chemistry method.