Electron correlation methods Mpller-Plesset perturbation theory

One of the original approximate methods is the wavefunction-theory-based Hartree-Fock (HF) method [40]. The HF method is a single determinant method that does not include any correlation interactions between the electrons, and as such has limited accuracy [41, 42]. Higher level wavefunction-based methods such as coupled cluster [43 5], configuration interaction [40,46,47], and complete active space [48-50] methods include multiple determinants to incorporate some of the electron-electron correlation. Methods based on perturbation theory, such as second order Mpller-Plesset perturbation theory [51], go beyond the HF method by perturbatively adding electron correlation. These correlated wavefunction-based methods have well-defined ways in which they approach the exact solution to the Schrodinger equation and thus have the potential to be extremely accurate, but this accuracy comes at a price [52]. 

Basis Sets Correlation Consistent Sets Configuration Interaction Coupled-cluster Theory Density Functional Applications Density Functional Theory Applications to Transition Metal Problems G2 Theory Integrals of Electron Repulsion Integrals Overlap Linear Scaling Methods for Electronic Structure Calculations Localized MO SCF Methods Mpller-Plesset Perturbation Theory Monte Carlo Quantum Methods for Electronic Structure Numerical Hartree-Fock Methods for Molecules Pseudospectral Methods in Ab Initio Quantum Chemistry Self-consistent Reaction Field Methods Symmetry in Hartree-Fock Theory. 

Things have moved on since the early papers given above. The development of Mpller-Plesset perturbation theory (Chapter 11) marked a turning point in treatments of electron correlation, and made such calculations feasible for molecules of moderate size. The Mpller-Plesset method is usually implemented up to MP4 but the convergence of the MPn series is sometimes unsatisfactory. The effect... 

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],... 

In ab initio methods the HER approximation is used for build-up of initial estimate for and which have to be further improved by methods of configurational interaction in the complete active space (CAS) [39], or by Mpller-Plesset perturbation theory (MPn) of order n, or by the coupled clusters [40,41] methods. In fact, any reasonable result within the ab initio QC requires at least minimal involvement of electron correlation. All the technical tricks invented to go beyond the HFR calculation scheme in terms of different forms of the trial wave function or various perturbative procedures represent in fact attempts to estimate somehow the second term of Eq. (5) - the cumulant % of the two-particle density matrix. 

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 this section, we briefly discuss some of the electronic structure methods which have been used in the calculations of the PE functions which are discussed in the following sections. There are variety of ab initio electronic structure methods which can be used for the calculation of the PE surface of the electronic ground state. Most widely used are Hartree-Fock (HF) based methods. In this approach, the electronic wavefunction of a closed-shell system is described by a determinant composed of restricted one-electron spin orbitals. The unrestricted HF (UHF) method can handle also open-shell electronic systems. The limitation of HF based methods is that they do not account for electron correlation effects. For the electronic ground state of closed-shell systems, electron correlation effects can be accounted for relatively easily by second-order Mpller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2). In modern implementations of MP2, linear scaling with the size of the system has been achieved. It is thus possible to treat quite large molecules and clusters at this level of theory. 

One of us [1] reviewed the situation of electron correlation a quarter of a century ago in a paper with the title electron correlation in the seventies [2]. At that time most quantum chemists did not care about electron correlation, and standard methods for the large scale treatment of electron correlation, like Mpller-Plesset (MP) perturbation theory or coupled-cluster (CC) theory were not yet available. However precursors of these methods such as lEPA (independent electron pair approximation) and CEPA (coupled-electron-pair approximation) had already been developped and were being used, mainly in research groups in Germany [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13]. 

It is well known that Hartree-Fock (HF) theory not only has been proven to be quite suitable for calculations of ground state (GS) properties of electronic systems, but has also served as a starting point to develop many-parti-cle approaches which deal with electronic correlation, like perturbation theory, configuration interaction methods and so on (see e.g., [1]). Therefore, a large number of sophisticated computational approaches have been developed for the description of the ground states based on the HF approximation. One of the most popular computational tools in quantum chemistry for GS calculations is based on the effectiveness of the HF approximation and the computational advantages of the widely used many-body Mpller-Plesset perturbation theory (MPPT) for correlation effects. We designate this scheme as HF + MPPT, here after denoted HF -f- MP2. ... 

The difference between the Hartree-Fock energy and the exact solution of the Schrodinger equation (Figure 60), the so-called correlation energy, can be calculated approximately within the Hartree-Fock theory by the configuration interaction method (Cl) or by a perturbation theoretical approach (Mpller-Plesset perturbation calculation wth order, MPn). Within a Cl calculation the wave function is composed of a linear combination of different Slater determinants. Excited-state Slater determinants are then generated by exciting electrons from the filled SCF orbitals to the virtual ones ... 

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