Coupled-cluster theory, electron correlation

Keywords State-specific coupled-cluster theory Electron correlation Configuration interaction Many-body perturbation theory Single and double excitation... 

There is also a hierarchy of electron correlation procedures. The Hartree-Fock (HF) approximation neglects correlation of electrons with antiparallel spins. Increasing levels of accuracy of electron correlation treatment are achieved by Mpller-Plesset perturbation theory truncated at the second (MP2), third (MP3), or fourth (MP4) order. Further inclusion of electron correlation is achieved by methods such as quadratic configuration interaction with single, double, and (perturbatively calculated) triple excitations [QCISD(T)], and by the analogous coupled cluster theory [CCSD(T)] [8],... 

R. J. Bartlett, Many-body perturbation theory and coupled cluster theory for electron correlation in molecules. Ann. Rev. Phys. Chem. 32, 359 (1981). 

Finally, Levchenko and Krylov (2004) have defined spin-flip versions of coupled cluster theories along lines similar to those previously described for SF-CISD. Applications to date have primarily been concerned with the accurate computation of electronically excited states, but the models are equally applicable to computing correlation energies for ground states. 

The corrections in going from HF to MP2 are large (Table 7.3) and the computational effort increases dramatically for small improvements in energies and geometries. With a limited basis set such as DZP, it is clear that CCSD(T), which should be superior to MP4, cannot five up to its promise because the basis set is too small. A major conclusion is that there must be a good balance between attempted amount of electron correlation recovery and basis set size. It is advisable to use at least triple-f quality type basis sets for highly correlated methods such as coupled cluster theory. 

In principle it is known how to compute the thermochemical properties of most molecules to very high accuracy (uncertainty of 0.5 kcal/mol). This can be achieved by accounting for electron correlation, such as can be obtained by means of coupled clustered theory with single, double, and triple excita-... 

Instead, practical methods involve a subset of possible Slater determinants, especially those in which two electrons are moved from the orbitals they occupy in the HF wavefunction into empty orbitals. These doubly excited determinants provide a description of the physical effect missing in HF theory, correlation between the motions of different electrons. Single and triple excitations are also included in some correlated ab initio methods. Different methods use different techniques to decide which determinants to include, and all these methods are computationally more expensive than HF theory, in some cases considerably more. Single-reference correlated methods start from the HF wavefunction and include various excited determinants. Important methods in inorganic chemistry include Mpller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2), coupled cluster theory with single and double excitations (CCSD), and a modified form of CCSD that also accounts approximately for triple excitations, CCSD(T). 

In two recent publications we have tried to characterize the excited state properties of 1 and 3 in order to facilitate their detection by LIF-spectroscopy. Our main tool in this effort has been equation of motion coupled cluster theory (EOM-CC). The EOM-CCSD method, which is equivalent to linear response CCSD, has been shown to provide an accurate description of both valence and excited states even in systems where electron correlation effects play an important role [39]. Computed transition energies for excitations that are of mainly single substitution character are generally accurate to within 0.1 eV. We have found the EOM-CCSD method to perform particularly well in combination with the doubly-augmented cc-pVDZ (d-aug-cc-pVDZ) basis set. This basis seems to provide equally balanced descriptions of ground and excited states,... 

The SAC/SAC-CI method is a correlated electronic-structure theory for the ground and excited states in various spin multiplicities. The SAC method belongs to the coupled-cluster theory [30, 31]. In the case of a closed-shell singlet state, the SAC wave function is written as... 

In this section we examine some of the critical ideas that contribute to most wavefunction-based models of electron correlation, including coupled cluster, configuration interaction, and many-body perturbation theory. We begin with the concept of the cluster function which may be used to include the effects of electron correlation in the wavefunction. Using a formalism in which the cluster functions are constructed by cluster operators acting on a reference determinant, we justify the use of the exponential ansatz of coupled cluster theory. ... 

The exponential ansatz given in Eq. [31] is one of the central equations of coupled cluster theory. The exponentiated cluster operator, T, when applied to the reference determinant, produces a new wavefunction containing cluster functions, each of which correlates the motion of electrons within specific orbitals. If T includes contributions from all possible orbital groupings for the N-electron system (that is, T, T2, . , T ), then the exact wavefunction within the given one-electron basis may be obtained from the reference function. The cluster operators, T , are frequently referred to as excitation operators, since the determinants they produce from fl>o resemble excited states in Hartree-Fock theory. Truncation of the cluster operator at specific substi-tution/excitation levels leads to a hierarchy of coupled cluster techniques (e.g., T = Ti + f 2 CCSD T T + T2 + —> CCSDT, etc., where S, D, and... 

C. Hampel and H.-J. Werner,/. Chem. Phys., 104, 6286 (1996). Local Treatment of Electron Correlation in Coupled Cluster Theory. 

The set of atomic orbitals Xk is called a basis set, and the quality of the basis set will usually dictate the accuracy of the calculations. For example, the interaction energy between an active site and an adsorbate molecule might be seriously overestimated because of excessive basis set superposition error (BSSE) if the number of atomic orbitals taken in Eq. [4] is too small. Note that Hartree-Fock theory does not describe correlated electron motion. Models that go beyond the FiF approximation and take electron correlation into account are termed post-Flartree-Fock models. Extensive reviews of post-HF models based on configurational interaction (Cl) theory, Moller-Plesset (MP) perturbation theory, and coupled-cluster theory can be found in other chapters of this series. ... 

Whenever the Hartree-Fock wave function provides a good zero-order description of the electronic system, it is natural to investigate the possibility of treating dynamical correlation by perturbation theory rather than by coupled-cluster theory. In this manner, we may hope to recover the most important effects of dynamical correlation at a cost lower than that of coupled-cluster theory. 

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