Julien Toulouse

Long-range-short-range separation of the electron-electron interaction in density-functional theory

By splitting the Coulomb interaction into long-range and short-range components, we decompose the energy of a quantum electronic system into long-range and short-range contributions. We show that the long-range part of the energy can be efficiently calculated by traditional wave function methods, while the short-range part can be handled by a density functional. The analysis of this functional with respect to the range of the associated interaction reveals that, in the limit of a very short-range interaction, the short-range exchange-correlation energy can be expressed as a simple local functional of the on-top pair density and its first derivatives. This provides an explanation for the accuracy of the local density approximation (LDA) for the short-range functional. Moreover, this analysis leads also to new simple approximations for the short-range exchange and correlation energies improving the LDA.

Optimization of quantum Monte Carlo wave functions by energy minimization

We study three wave function optimization methods based on energy minimization in a variational Monte Carlo framework: the Newton, linear, and perturbative methods. In the Newton method, the parameter variations are calculated from the energy gradient and Hessian, using a reduced variance statistical estimator for the latter. In the linear method, the parameter variations are found by diagonalizing a nonsymmetric estimator of the Hamiltonian matrix in the space spanned by the wave function and its derivatives with respect to the parameters, making use of a strong zero-variance principle. In the less computationally expensive perturbative method, the parameter variations are calculated by approximately solving the generalized eigenvalue equation of the linear method by a nonorthogonal perturbation theory. These general methods are illustrated here by the optimization of wave functions consisting of a Jastrow factor multiplied by an expansion in configuration state functions (CSFs) for the C2 molecule, including both valence and core electrons in the calculation. The Newton and linear methods are very efficient for the optimization of the Jastrow, CSF, and orbital parameters. The perturbative method is a good alternative for the optimization of just the CSF and orbital parameters. Although the optimization is performed at the variational Monte Carlo level, we observe for the C2 molecule studied here, and for other systems we have studied, that as more parameters in the trial wave functions are optimized, the diffusion Monte Carlo total energy improves monotonically, implying that the nodal hypersurface also improves monotonically.

Adiabatic-connection fluctuation-dissipation density-functional theory based on range separation

An adiabatic-connection fluctuation-dissipation theorem approach based on a range separation of electron-electron interactions is proposed. It involves a rigorous combination of short-range density-functional and long-range random phase approximations. This method corrects several shortcomings of the standard random phase approximation and it is particularly well suited for describing weakly bound van der Waals systems, as demonstrated on the challenging cases of the dimers Be2 and Ne2.

Double-hybrid density-functional theory made rigorous.

We provide a rigorous derivation of a class of double-hybrid approximations, combining Hartree-Fock exchange and second-order Møller-Plesset correlation with a semilocal exchange-correlation density functional. These double-hybrid approximations contain only one empirical parameter and use a density-scaled correlation energy functional. Neglecting density scaling leads to a one-parameter version of the standard double-hybrid approximations. We assess the performance of these double-hybrid schemes on representative test sets of atomization energies and reaction barrier heights, and we compare to other hybrid approximations, including range-separated hybrids. Our best one-parameter double-hybrid approximation, called 1DH-BLYP, roughly reproduces the two parameters of the standard B2-PLYP or B2GP-PLYP double-hybrid approximations, which shows that these methods are not only empirically close to an optimum for general chemical applications but are also theoretically supported.

Full optimization of Jastrow–Slater wave functions with application to the first-row atoms and homonuclear diatomic molecules

We pursue the development and application of the recently introduced linear optimization method for determining the optimal linear and nonlinear parameters of Jastrow-Slater wave functions in a variational Monte Carlo framework. In this approach, the optimal parameters are found iteratively by diagonalizing the Hamiltonian matrix in the space spanned by the wave function and its first-order derivatives, making use of a strong zero-variance principle. We extend the method to optimize the exponents of the basis functions, simultaneously with all the other parameters, namely, the Jastrow, configuration state function, and orbital parameters. We show that the linear optimization method can be thought of as a so-called augmented Hessian approach, which helps explain the robustness of the method and permits us to extend it to minimize a linear combination of the energy and the energy variance. We apply the linear optimization method to obtain the complete ground-state potential energy curve of the C(2) molecule up to the dissociation limit and discuss size consistency and broken spin-symmetry issues in quantum Monte Carlo calculations. We perform calculations for the first-row atoms and homonuclear diatomic molecules with fully optimized Jastrow-Slater wave functions, and we demonstrate that molecular well depths can be obtained with near chemical accuracy quite systematically at the diffusion Monte Carlo level for these systems.

Short-range exchange and correlation energy density functionals: beyond the local-density approximation.

We propose approximations which go beyond the local-density approximation for the short-range exchange and correlation density functionals appearing in a multideterminantal extension of the Kohn-Sham scheme. A first approximation consists of defining locally the range of the interaction in the correlation functional. Another approximation, more conventional, is based on a gradient expansion of the short-range exchange-correlation functional. Finally, we also test a short-range generalized-gradient approximation by extending the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof exchange-correlation functional to short-range interactions.

Range-separated density-functional theory with random phase approximation applied to noncovalent intermolecular interactions

Range-separated methods combining a short-range density functional with long-range random phase approximations (RPAs) with or without exchange response kernel are tested on rare-gas dimers and the S22 benchmark set of weakly interacting complexes of Jurecka et al. [Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 8, 1985 (2006)]. The methods are also compared to full-range RPA approaches. Both range separation and inclusion of the Hartree-Fock exchange kernel largely improve the accuracy of intermolecular interaction energies. The best results are obtained with the method called RSH+RPAx, which yields interaction energies for the S22 set with an estimated mean absolute error of about 0.5-0.6 kcal/mol, corresponding to a mean absolute percentage error of about 7%-9% depending on the reference interaction energies used. In particular, the RSH+RPAx method is found to be overall more accurate than the range-separated method based on long-range second-order Moller-Plesset (MP2) perturbation theory (RSH+MP2).

Correlation Energy Expressions from the Adiabatic-Connection Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorem Approach.

We explore several random phase approximation (RPA) correlation energy variants within the adiabatic-connection fluctuation-dissipation theorem approach. These variants differ in the way the exchange interactions are treated. One of these variants, named dRPA-II, is original to this work and closely resembles the second-order screened exchange (SOSEX) method. We discuss and clarify the connections among different RPA formulations. We derive the spin-adapted forms of all the variants for closed-shell systems and test them on a few atomic and molecular systems with and without range separation of the electron-electron interaction.

Validation and assessment of an accurate approach to the correlation problem in density functional theory: The Kriger–Chen–Iafrate–Savin model

In the present paper, we validate and assess a correlation functional based on the so-called meta generalized gradient approximation, whose form and parameters are entirely derived only from first-principles criteria. In particular, we have carried out a detailed comparison with the most common, parametrized correlation functionals. Next, we propose a new model in which the correlation functional proposed by Kriger, Chen, Iafrate, and Savin is integrated in a hybrid Hartree–Fock/density functional theory scheme. In such approach only one, or two in the G2-optimized version, parameters are adjusted on experimental data, all the others being derived from purely theoretical considerations. The results obtained for a set of molecular properties, including H-bonded complexes, proton transfer model, SN2 reaction and magnetic properties, are satisfactory and comparable, if not better, with those delivered by the most common functionals including heavy parametrization. The way in which the whole functional is der...

Communication: Rationale for a new class of double-hybrid approximations in density-functional theory

We provide a rationale for a new class of double-hybrid approximations introduced by Brémond and Adamo [J. Chem. Phys. 135, 024106 (2011)] which combine an exchange-correlation density functional with Hartree-Fock exchange weighted by λ and second-order Møller-Plesset (MP2) correlation weighted by λ(3). We show that this double-hybrid model can be understood in the context of the density-scaled double-hybrid model proposed by Sharkas et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 134, 064113 (2011)], as approximating the density-scaled correlation functional E(c)[n(1/λ)] by a linear function of λ, interpolating between MP2 at λ = 0 and a density-functional approximation at λ = 1. Numerical results obtained with the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof density functional confirms the relevance of this double-hybrid model.