An efficient basis set representation for calculating electrons in molecules

Nested gausslet basis sets

We introduce nested gausslet bases, an improvement on previous gausslet bases that can treat systems containing atoms with much larger atomic numbers. We also introduce pure Gaussian distorted gausslet bases, which allow the Hamiltonian integrals to be performed analytically, as well as hybrid bases in which the gausslets are combined with standard Gaussian-type bases. All these bases feature the diagonal approximation for the electron-electron interactions so that the Hamiltonian is completely defined by two Nb × Nb matrices, where Nb ≈ 104 is small enough to permit fast calculations at the Hartree-Fock level. In constructing these bases, we have gained new mathematical insight into the construction of one-dimensional diagonal bases. In particular, we have proved an important theorem relating four key basis set properties: completeness, orthogonality, zero-moment conditions, and diagonalization of the coordinate operator matrix. We test our basis sets on small systems with a focus on high accuracy, obtaining, for example, an accuracy of 2 × 10-5 Ha for the total Hartree-Fock energy of the neon atom in the complete basis set limit.

Fast Exchange with Gaussian Basis Set Using Robust Pseudospectral Method

In this article, we present an algorithm to efficiently evaluate the exchange matrix in periodic systems when a Gaussian basis set with pseudopotentials is used. The usual algorithm for evaluating exchange matrix scales cubically with the system size because one has to perform O(N²) fast Fourier transform (FFT). Here, we introduce an algorithm that retains the cubic scaling but reduces the prefactor significantly by eliminating the need to do FFTs during each exchange build. This is accomplished by representing the products of Gaussian basis function using a linear combination of an auxiliary basis the number of which scales linearly with the size of the system. We store the potential due to these auxiliary functions in memory, which allows us to obtain the exchange matrix without the need to do FFT, albeit at the cost of additional memory requirement. Although the basic idea of using auxiliary functions is not new, our algorithm is cheaper due to a combination of three ingredients: (a) we use a robust pseudospectral method that allows us to use a relatively small number of auxiliary basis to obtain high accuracy; (b) we use occ-RI exchange, which eliminates the need to construct the full exchange matrix; and (c) we use the (interpolative separable density fitting) ISDF algorithm to construct these auxiliary basis sets that are used in the robust pseudospectral method. The resulting algorithm is accurate, and we note that the error in the final energy decreases exponentially rapidly with the number of auxiliary functions.

Probing vibrational coupling via a grid-based quantum approach-an efficient strategy for accurate calculations of localized normal modes in solid-state systems

In this work an approach to investigate the properties of strongly localized vibrational modes of functional groups in bulk material and on solid‐state surfaces is presented. The associated normal mode vectors are approximated solely on the basis of structural information and obtained via diagonalization of a reduced Hessian. The grid‐based Numerov procedure in one and two dimensions is then applied to an adequate scan of the respective potential surface yielding the associated vibrational wave functions and energy eigenvalues. This not only provides a detailed description of anharmonic effects but also an accurate inclusion of the coupling between the investigated vibrational states on a quantum mechanical level. All results obtained for the constructed normal modes are benchmarked against their analytical counterparts obtained from the diagonalization of the total Hessian of the entire system. Three increasingly complex systems treated at quantum chemical level of theory have been considered, namely the symmetric and asymmetric stretch vibrations of an isolated water molecule, hydroxyl groups bound to the surface of GeO₂ (001), α‐quartz(001) and Rutil (001) as well as crystalline Li₂NH serving as an example for a bulk material. While the data obtained for the individual systems verify the applicability of the proposed methodology, comparison to experimental data demonstrates the accuracy of this methodology despite the restriction to limit this methodology to a few selected vibrational modes.

The possibility to investigate vibrational phenomena of localized normal modes without the requirement of executing costly harmonic frequency calculations of the entire system enables the application of this method to cases in which the determination of normal modes is prohibitively expensive or not available for a particular level of theory. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Assessing the predictability of anharmonic vibrational modes at the example of hydroxyl groups – ad hoc construction of localised modes and the influence of structural solute–solvent motifs

The performance of the grid-based Numerov approach for the prediction of vibrational modes has been systematically assessed for analytically solvable model systems and hydroxyl-groups of different molecules.