Hartree-Fock theory electronic structure methods

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. 

Recently, a third class of electronic structure methods have come into wide use density functional methods. These DFT methods are similar to ab initio methods in many ways. DFT calculations require about the same amount of computation resources as Hartree-Fock theory, the least expensive ab initio method. 

The DFT and MP2 calculations produce very similar structures, although the BLYP bond length is again longer than those of the other functionals. Hartree-Fock theory predicts a bond length which is significantly shorter than the methods including electron correlation. 

Most of the commonly used electronic-structure methods are based upon Hartree-Fock theory, with electron correlation sometimes included in various ways (Slater, 1974). Typically one begins with a many-electron wave function comprised of one or several Slater determinants and takes the one-electron wave functions to be molecular orbitals (MO s) in the form of linear combinations of atomic orbitals (LCAO s) (An alternative approach, the generalized valence-bond method (see, for example, Schultz and Messmer, 1986), has been used in a few cases but has not been widely applied to defect problems.)... 

It is important to realize that each of the electronic-structure methods discussed above displays certain shortcomings in reproducing the correct band structure of the host crystal and consequently the positions of defect levels. Hartree-Fock methods severely overestimate the semiconductor band gap, sometimes by several electron volts (Estreicher, 1988). In semi-empirical methods, the situation is usually even worse, and the band structure may not be reliably represented (Deak and Snyder, 1987 Besson et al., 1988). Density-functional theory, on the other hand, provides a quite accurate description of the band structure, except for an underestimation of the band gap (by up to 50%). Indeed, density-functional theory predicts conduction bands and hence conduction-band-derived energy levels to be too low. This problem has been studied in great detail, and its origins are well understood (see, e.g., Hybertsen and Louie, 1986). To solve it, however, requires techniques of many-body theory and carrying out a quasi-particle calculation. Such calculational schemes are presently prohibitively complex and too computationally demanding to apply to defect calculations. 

We have presented a practical Hartree-Fock theory of atomic and molecular electronic structure for individual electronically excited states that does not involve the use of off-diagonal Lagrange multipliers. An easily implemented method for taking the orthogonality constraints into account (tocia) has been used to impose the orthogonality of the Hartree-Fock excited state wave function of interest to states of lower energy. 

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. 

Most chemists picture the electronic structure of atoms or molecules by invoking orbitals. The orbital concept has its basis in Hartree-Fock theory, which determines the best wavefunction I ) under the approximation that each electron experiences only the average field of the other electrons. This is also called the one-electron, or independent particle model. While the Hartree-Fock method gives very useful results in many situations, it is not always quantitatively or even qualitatively correct. When this approximation fails, it becomes necessary to include the effects of electron correlation one must model the instantaneous electron-electron repulsions present in the molecular Hamiltonian. 

A different approach to treat correlation effects which are not well described within the LSDA consists in incorporating self-interaction corrections (SIC) [111-114] in electron structure methods for solids, Svane et al. [115-120]. In the Hartree-Fock (HF) theory the electron-electron interactions are usually divided into two contributions, the Coulomb term and the exchange term although they both are Coulomb interactions. The separation though, is convenient because simplifications of self-consistent-field calculations can be obtained by including in both terms the interaction of the electron itself. In the HF theory this has no influence on the solutions because these selfinteractions in the Coulomb and exchange terms exactly cancel each other. However, when the exchange term is treated... 

To discuss the form and cost of analytic gradient and Hessian evaluations, we consider the simple case of Hartree-Fock (HF) calculations. In nearly all chemical applications of HF theory, the molecular orbitals (MOs) are represented by a linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO). In the context of most electronic structure methods, the LCAO approximation employs a more convenient set of basis functions such as contracted Gaussians, rather than using actual atomic orbitals. Taken together, the collection of basis functions used to represent the atomic orbitals comprises a basis set. 

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