Basis sets/functions superposition error

Ethynyllithium is one of the very first organometallic compounds to be computed at a reasonable ab initio level. This calculation involved Slater functions rather than Gaussian-lype orbitals because ethynyllithium is a linear molecule and the integrals for Slater functions on a line all have analytical solutions. The compound was found to be highly ionic, as expected. The formally sp-hybrid character of the carbon orbital of the C-Li bond also results in a bond length about 0.1 A shorter than in methyllithium. The electron density function of ethynyllithium was used to study the effect of basis set on superposition errors diffuse functions were found to be more important than d-orbitals in this regard. ... 

Leclercq, J. M., Allavena, M., Bouteiller, Y. (1983). On the basis set superposition error in potential surface investigations. I. Hydrogen-bonded complexes with standard basis set-functions. Journal of Chemical Physics, 78, 4606-4611. 

It is a well-known fact that the Hartree-Fock model does not describe bond dissociation correctly. For example, the H2 molecule will dissociate to an H+ and an atom rather than two H atoms as the bond length is increased. Other methods will dissociate to the correct products however, the difference in energy between the molecule and its dissociated parts will not be correct. There are several different reasons for these problems size-consistency, size-extensivity, wave function construction, and basis set superposition error. 

Diffuse functions are those functions with small Gaussian exponents, thus describing the wave function far from the nucleus. It is common to add additional diffuse functions to a basis. The most frequent reason for doing this is to describe orbitals with a large spatial extent, such as the HOMO of an anion or Rydberg orbitals. Adding diffuse functions can also result in a greater tendency to develop basis set superposition error (BSSE), as described later in this chapter. 

Simon, S., Duran, M., Dannenberg, J. J., 1999, Effect of Basis Set Superposition Error on the Water Dimer Surface Calculated at Hartree-Fock, Mpller-Plesset, and Density Functional Theory Levels , J. Phys. Chem. A, 103, 1640. 

BSSE Basis set superposition error DFT Density functional theory... 

The molecular orbitals in the nonrelativistic and one-component calculations and the large component in the Dirac-Fock functions were spanned in the Cd s Ap9d)l[9slp6d basis of [63] and the H (5s 2p)/[35 l/>] set [61]. Contraction coefficients were taken from corresponding atomic SCF calculations. The basis for the small components in the Dirac-Fock calculations is derived by the MOLFDIR program from the large-component basis. The basis set superposition error is corrected by the counterpoise method [64]. The Breit interaction was found to have a very small effect and is therefore not included in the results. 

As it is well known, the Basis Set Superposition Error (BSSE) affects calculations involving hydrogen bonds [1] and, more generally, intermolecular interaction investigations [2,3], This issue of consistency, as first pointed out in 1968 [4], arises from the use of an incomplete basis set but it does not correspond to the basis set truncation error and it is due to the use of diffuse functions on neighbouring interacting particles, which leads to a non physical contribution to the interaction energy within the complex. 

Special attention has been dedicated to the study of the basis set superposition error (BSSE). The SCF-Ml algorithm which excludes the BSSE from the SCF function was employed. A multi configuration version of it, particularly suited to study proton transfer effects, has been formulated. The use of these techniques has led to binding energy values which show a better stability against variation of the basis set, when compared with standard SCF results. For a more complete evaluation of the advantages of the a priori strategy to avoid BSSE see references [47-50], where applications to the study of the water properties are reported, and reference [51], where the Spin Coupled Valence Bond calculations for the He-LiH system are presented. 

Abbreviations MD, molecular dynamics TST, transition state theory EM, energy minimization MSD, mean square displacement PFG-NMR, pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance VAF, velocity autocorrelation function RDF, radial distribution function MEP, minimum energy path MC, Monte Carlo GC-MC, grand canonical Monte Carlo CB-MC, configurational-bias Monte Carlo MM, molecular mechanics QM, quantum mechanics FLF, Hartree-Fock DFT, density functional theory BSSE, basis set superposition error DME, dimethyl ether MTG, methanol to gasoline. 

In addition to the cluster calculations, we report details of recent first-principles calculations based on the density functional formalism. These calculations employ periodic boundary conditions to allow investigation of the entire zeolite lattice, and therefore the use of a plane-wave basis set is applicable. This has a number of advantages, most notably that the absence of atom-centered basis functions results in no basis set superposition error (BSSE) (272), which arises as a result of the finite nature of atom-centered basis sets. Nonlocal, or gradient, corrections are applicable also, just as they are in the cluster calculations. 

Recent work improved earlier results and considered the effects of electron correlation and vibrational averaging [278], Especially the effects of intra-atomic correlation, which were seen to be significant for rare-gas pairs, have been studied for H2-He pairs and compared with interatomic electron correlation the contributions due to intra- and interatomic correlation are of opposite sign. Localized SCF orbitals were used again to reduce the basis set superposition error. Special care was taken to assure that the supermolecular wavefunctions separate correctly for R —> oo into a product of correlated H2 wavefunctions, and a correlated as well as polarized He wavefunction. At the Cl level, all atomic and molecular properties (polarizability, quadrupole moment) were found to be in agreement with the accurate values to within 1%. Various extensions of the basis set have resulted in variations of the induced dipole moment of less than 1% [279], Table 4.5 shows the computed dipole components, px, pz, as functions of separation, R, orientation (0°, 90°, 45° relative to the internuclear axis), and three vibrational spacings r, in 10-6 a.u. of dipole strength [279]. 

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