Assessment of multireference approaches to explicitly correlated full configuration interaction quantum Monte Carlo

Non-iterative Triples for Transcorrelated Coupled Cluster Theory

We present an implementation of a perturbative triples correction for the coupled cluster ansatz including single and double excitations based on the transcorrelated Hamiltonian. Transcorrelation introduces explicit electron correlation in the electronic Hamiltonian through similarity transformation with a correlation factor. Due to this transformation, the transcorrelated Hamiltonian includes up to three-body couplings and becomes non-Hermitian. Since the conventional coupled cluster equations are solved by projection, it is well suited to harbor non-Hermitian Hamiltonians. The arising three-body operator, however, creates a huge memory bottleneck and increases the runtime scaling of the coupled cluster equations. As it has been shown that the three-body operator can be approximated, by expressing the Hamiltonian in the normal-ordered form, we investigate this approximation for the perturbative triples correction. Results are compared with a code-generation based transcorrelated coupled cluster implementation up to quadruple excitations.

Dense-sparse quantum Monte Carlo algebraic diagrammatic construction and importance ranking

Quantum Monte Carlo Algebraic Diagrammatic Construction (QMCADC) has been proposed as a reformulation of the second-order ADC scheme for the polarization propagator within the projection quantum Monte Carlo formalism. Dense-sparse partitioning and importance ranking filtering strategies are now exploited to accelerate its convergence and to alleviate the sign problem inherent in such calculations. By splitting the configuration space into dense and sparse subsets, the corresponding projection operator is decomposed into four distinct blocks. Deterministic calculations handle the dense-to-dense and sparse-to-dense blocks, while the remaining blocks, dense-to-sparse and sparse-to-sparse, are stochastically evaluated. The dense set is efficiently stored in a fixed-size array, and the sparse set is represented through conventional floating random Monte Carlo walks. The stochastic projection is further refined through importance ranking criteria, enabling a reduction in the required number of walkers with a controllable bias. Our results demonstrate the integration of dense-sparse partitioning with importance ranking filtering to significantly enhance the efficiency of QMCADC, enabling large-scale molecular excited-state calculations. Furthermore, this novel approach maximizes the utilization of the sparsity of ADC(2), transforming QMCADC into a tailored framework for ADC calculations.

Efficient Exploitation of Numerical Quadrature with Distance-Dependent Integral Screening in Explicitly Correlated F12 Theory: Linear Scaling Evaluation of the Most Expensive RI-MP2-F12 Term

We present a linear scaling atomic orbital based algorithm for the computation of the most expensive exchange-type RI-MP2-F12 term by employing numerical quadrature in combination with CABS-RI to avoid six-center-three-electron integrals. Furthermore, a robust distance-dependent integral screening scheme, based on integral partition bounds [Thompson, T. H.; Ochsenfeld, C. J. Chem. Phys. 2019, 150, 044101], is used to drastically reduce the number of the required three-center-one-electron integrals substantially. The accuracy of our numerical quadrature/CABS-RI approach and the corresponding integral screening is thoroughly assessed for interaction and isomerization energies across a variety of numerical integration grids. Our method outperforms the standard density fitting/CABS-RI approach with errors below 1 μEh even for small grid sizes and moderate screening thresholds. The choice of the grid size and screening threshold allows us to tailor our ansatz to a desired accuracy and computational efficiency. We showcase the approach's effectiveness for the chemically relevant system valinomycin, employing a triple-ζ F12 basis set combination (C54H90N6O18, 5757 AO basis functions, 10,266 CABS basis functions, 735,783 grid points). In this context, our ansatz achieves higher accuracy combined with a 135× speedup compared to the classical density fitting based variant, requiring notably less computation time than the corresponding RI-MP2 calculation. Additionally, we demonstrate near-linear scaling through calculations on linear alkanes. We achieved an 817-fold acceleration for C80H162 and an extrapolated 28,765-fold acceleration for C200H402, resulting in a substantially reduced computational time for the latter─from 229 days to just 11.5 min. Our ansatz may also be adapted to the remaining MP2-F12 terms, which will be the subject of future work.

The Multistate Quantum Monte Carlo Algebraic Diagrammatic Construction Method

A multistate formulation of the recently developed quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) algebraic diagrammatic construction (ADC) method, QMCADC, is presented. QMCADC solves the Hermitian eigenvalue problem of the second-order ADC scheme for the polarization propagator stochastically by combining ADC schemes with projector quantum Monte Carlo (PQMC). It allows for massively parallel distributed computing and exploits the sparsity of the effective ADC matrix, thereby relaxing memory and processing requirements of ADC methods significantly. Here, the theory and implementation of the multistate variant of QMCADC are described, and our first proof-of-principle calculations for various molecular systems are shown. Indeed, multistate QMCADC enables sampling of an arbitrary number of low-lying excited states and can reproduce their vertical excitation energies with a marginal controllable error. The performance of multistate QMCADC is examined in terms of state-wise and overall accuracy as well as with respect to the balance in the treatments of excited states relatively to each other. The results are very promising as they show bias and imbalances among excited states to diminish as the number of sampling points increases. Furthermore, the impact of the quality of trial wave functions on the vertical excitation energies is investigated. A black-box approach for the generation of high quality trial wave functions internally is given.

Improving the accuracy of the variational quantum eigensolver for molecular systems by the explicitly-correlated perturbative [2]R12correction

We provide an integration of the universal, perturbative explicitly correlated [2]_R12-correction in the context of the Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE). This approach is able to increase the accuracy of the underlying reference method significantly while requiring no additional quantum resources. The proposed approach only requires knowledge of the one- and two-particle reduced density matrices (RDMs) of the reference wavefunction; these can be measured after having reached convergence in the VQE. This computation comes at a cost that scales as the sixth power of the number of electrons. We explore the performance of the VQE + [2]_R12 approach using both conventional Gaussian basis sets and our recently proposed directly determined pair-natural orbitals obtained by multiresolution analysis (MRA-PNOs). Both Gaussian orbital and PNOs are investigated as a potential set of complementary basis functions in the computation of [2]_R12. In particular the combination of MRA-PNOs with [2]_R12 has turned out to be very promising - persistently throughout our data, this allowed very accurate simulations at a quantum cost of a minimal basis set. Additionally, we found that the deployment of PNOs as complementary basis can greatly reduce the number of complementary basis functions that enter the computation of the correction at a complexity.

A full configuration interaction quantum Monte Carlo study of ScO, TiO, and VO molecules

Accurate ab initio calculations of 3d transition metal monoxide molecules have attracted extensive attention because of their relevance in physical and chemical science as well as theoretical challenges in treating strong electron correlation. Meanwhile, recent years have witnessed the rapid development of the full configuration interaction quantum Monte Carlo (FCIQMC) method to tackle electron correlation. In this study, we carry out FCIQMC simulations to ScO, TiO, and VO molecules and obtain accurate descriptions of 13 low-lying electronic states (ScO ²Σ⁺, ²Δ, ²Π; TiO ³Δ, ¹Δ, ¹Σ⁺, ³Π, ³Φ; VO ⁴Σ^-, ⁴Φ, ⁴Π, ²Γ, ²Δ), including states that have significant multi-configurational character. The FCIQMC results are used to assess the performance of several other wave function theory and density functional theory methods. Our study highlights the challenging nature of the electronic structure of transition metal oxides and demonstrates FCIQMC as a promising technique going forward to treat more complex transition metal oxide molecules and materials.

FCIQMC-Tailored Distinguishable Cluster Approach

The tailored approach is applied to the distinguishable cluster method together with a stochastic FCI solver (FCIQMC). It is demonstrated that the new method is more accurate than the corresponding tailored coupled cluster and the pure distinguishable cluster methods. An F12 correction for tailored methods and FCIQMC is introduced, which drastically improves the basis set convergence. A new black-box approach to define the active space using the natural orbitals from the distinguishable cluster is evaluated and found to be a convenient alternative to the usual CASSCF approach.

Wave Function Perspective and Efficient Truncation of Renormalized Second-Order Perturbation Theory

We present an approach to a renormalized second-order Green's function perturbation theory (GF2), which avoids all dependency on continuous variables, grids, or explicit Green's functions and is instead formulated entirely in terms of static quantities and wave functions. Correlation effects from MP2 diagrams are iteratively incorporated to modify the underlying spectrum of excitations by coupling the physical system to fictitious auxiliary degrees of freedom, allowing for single-particle orbitals to delocalize into this additional space. The overall approach is shown to be rigorously O[N⁵], after an appropriate compression of this auxiliary space. This is achieved via a novel scheme, which ensures that a desired number of moments of the underlying occupied and virtual spectra are conserved in the compression, allowing a rapid and systematically improvable convergence to the limit of the effective dynamical resolution. The approach is found to then allow for the qualitative description of stronger correlation effects, avoiding the divergences of MP2, as well as its orbital-optimized version. On application to the G1 test set, we find that modification up to only the third spectral moment of the underlying spectrum from which the double excitations are built are required for accurate energetics, even in strongly correlated regimes. This is beyond simple self-consistent changes to the density matrix of the system but far from requiring a description of the full dynamics of the frequency-dependent self-energy.