Explicitly correlated methods correlating functions

Variational methods based on the use of explicitly correlated wavefiinctions are reviewed. Different types of such functions are considered. Application of explicitly correlated functions as basis functions in variational calculations on two-, three- and four-electrons molecules is presented. The state of art calculations and future perspectives are briefly discussed. 

Of course, the methods described further also provide their own spectacles" (otherwise, they would not give the solution of the Schrodinger equation), but the spectacles in the explicitly correlated functions are easier to construct with a small number of parameters. 

The family of variational methods with explicitly correlated functions includes the Hylleraas method, the Hyller-aas Cl method, the James-Coolidge and the KcAos-Wolniewicz approaches, as well as a method with exponentially correlated Gaussians. The method of explicitly correlated functions is very successful for two-, three-, and four-electron systems. For larger systems, due to the excessive number of complicated integrals, variational calculations are not yet feasible. 

Figure 1 A family tree of quantum chemistry DFT, density functional theory QMC, quantum Monte Carlo RRV, Rayleigh-Ritz variational theory X-a, X-alpha method KS, Kohn-Sham approach LDA, BP, B3LYP, density functional approximations VQMC, variational QMC DQMC, diffusion QMC FNQMC, fixed-node QMC PIQMC, path integral QMC EQMC, exact QMC HF, Hartree-Fock EC, explicitly correlated functions P, perturbational MP2, MP4, Maller-Plesset perturbational Cl, configuration interaction MRCI, multireference Cl FCI, full Cl CC, CCSD(T), coupled-cluster approaches. Other acronyms are defined in the text.

In about 1969 the transcorrelated method of Boys and Handy appeared to be an interesting alternative to the standard methods of numerical quantum chemistry employing explicitly correlated functions, As mentioned before, the inclusion of explicitly correlated functions into variational calculations not only gives rise to difficult three-electron integrals, but also to four-electron integrals (or more if more complicated R-electron functions are used). In order to avoid the four-electron integrals. Boys and Handy proposed to consider the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian... 

A method that avoids making the HF mistakes in the first place is called quantum Monte Carlo (QMC). There are several types of QMC variational, dilfusion, and Greens function Monte Carlo calculations. These methods work with an explicitly correlated wave function. This is a wave function that has a function of the electron-electron distance (a generalization of the original work by Hylleraas). 

Unfortunately, extending Hylleraas s approach to systems containing three or more electrons leads to very cumbersome mathematics. More practical approaches, known as explicitly correlated methods, are classified into two categories. The first group of approaches uses Boys Gaussian-type geminal (GTG) functions with the explicit dependence on the interelectronic coordinate built into the exponent [95]... 

However, the introduction of the RI approximation led to the need for large basis sets. In old R12 method, only one single basis was used for both the electronic wave function and the RI approximation. The new formulation of R12 theory presented here uses an independent basis set denoted auxiliary basis set for the RI approximation while we employ a (much) smaller basis set for the MP2 wave function (7). This auxiliary basis set makes it possible to employ standard basis sets in explicitly correlated MP2-R12 calculations. 

With an appropriate /(r12) function, e.g., in the original linear form f(r-[2) — C12, the operator product r firu) is no longer singular. Such cancellation is not possible with Slater determinants alone and this is what allows explicitly correlated wave functions to achieve accurate correlation energies with relatively small basis sets. With the single explicitly correlated term, therefore, we effectively include a linear combination of an infinite set of Slater determinants, but without the need to solve an infinite set of equations to determine the corresponding amplitudes. The R12 method constructs wave functions that are more compact and computationally tractable than naive Slater-determinant-based counterparts. 

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