Zeroth-order regular approximation Hamiltonians

In this paper we present the first application of the ZORA (Zeroth Order Regular Approximation of the Dirac Fock equation) formalism in Ab Initio electronic structure calculations. The ZORA method, which has been tested previously in the context of Density Functional Theory, has been implemented in the GAMESS-UK package. As was shown earlier we can split off a scalar part from the two component ZORA Hamiltonian. In the present work only the one component part is considered. We introduce a separate internal basis to represent the extra matrix elements, needed for the ZORA corrections. This leads to different options for the computation of the Coulomb matrix in this internal basis. The performance of this Hamiltonian and the effect of the different Coulomb matrix alternatives is tested in calculations on the radon en xenon atoms and the AuH molecule. In the atomic cases we compare with numerical Dirac Fock and numerical ZORA methods and with non relativistic and full Dirac basis set calculations. It is shown that ZORA recovers the bulk of the relativistic effect and that ZORA and Dirac Fock perform equally well in medium size basis set calculations. For AuH we have calculated the equilibrium bond length with the non relativistic Hartree Fock and ZORA methods and compare with the Dirac Fock result and the experimental value. Again the ZORA and Dirac Fock errors are of the same order of magnitude. 

One-component calculations or two-component calculations including also spin-orbit coupling effects provide a firm basis for the calculations of higher-order relativistic corrections by means of perturbation theory. Several quasi-relativistic approximations have been proposed. The most successful approaches are the Douglas-Kroll-Hess method (DKH) [1-7], the relativistic direct perturbation theory (DPT) [8-24], the zeroth-order regular approximation (ZORA) [25-48], and the normalized elimination of small components methods (NESC) [49-53]. Related quasi-relativistic schemes based on the elimination of the small components (RESC) and other similar nonsingular quasi-relativistic Hamiltonians have also been proposed [54-61]. 

Another method to avoid the singularities in the vicinity of the nuclei was proposed by van Lenthe et al. [26,27,35]. They suggested an method that also includes the interaction potential, V (r), in the denominator of the ansatz for the small component. This ansatz was used in the derivation of the so called zeroth-order regular approximation (ZORA) Hamiltonian. The ZORA ansatz can thus be the written as... 

The zeroth-order regular approximation (ZORA) Hamiltonian can be derived from the upper part of the transformed Dirac equation (20). By using the ZORA ansatz for the small component (5) and assuming that the upper and the lower components are equal, the final ZORA equation for the upper component becomes... 

One of the shortcomings of the BP approach is that the expansion in (p/mc) is not justified in the case where the electronic momentum is too large, e.g. for a Coulomb-like potential. The zeroth-order regular approximation (ZORA) [142,143] can avoid this disadvantage by expanding in E/ 2mc — P) up to the first order. The ZORA Hamiltonian is variationally stable. However, the Hamiltonian obtained by a higher order expansion has to be treated perturbatively, similarly to the BP Hamiltonian. Other quasi-relativistic methods have been proposed by Kutzelnigg [144,145] and DyaU [146]. 

Three quasi-relativistic approaches that are variationally stable are the Doug-lass-Kroll-Hess transformation of the no-pair Hamiltonian (for example, see Ref. 11, 20, 23-29), the zeroth order regular approximation, ZORA, (for example, see Ref. 30-34), and the approach of Barysz and Sadlej (for example, see Ref. 36). The results of the first two approaches differ considerably even when used by the same authors,which led them to try the third approach. A calibration study suggests that relativistic effects on heavy atom shieldings are significantly underestimated by ZORA in comparison to the four-component relativistic treatment, but that the neighboring proton chemical shifts are closer to experi-... 

VMC method [14, 15] by deriving the relativistic local energy of the scalar version of the zeroth-order regular approximation (ZORA) Hamiltonian [16-19] as the first attempt to develop the relativistic QMC method. 

Coulomb-like potential. The zeroth-order regular approximation (ZORA) avoids this disadvantage by expanding in /(2c — V) up to the first order so that the ZORA Hamiltonian is variationally stable. The ZORA Hamiltonian was first derived by Chang et al. in 1986 [16], and later rediscovered as an approximation to the FW transformation by van Lenthe et al. [ 17-19]. The ZORA Hamiltonian of one electron in the external potential V is given by... 

In the development of the Pauli Hamiltonian in section 17.1, truncation of the power series expansion of the inverse operator after the first term yielded the nonrelativistic Hamiltonian. In (18.1), the zeroth-order term is the Hamiltonian first developed by Chang, Pelissier, and Durand (1986), often referred to as the CPD Hamiltonian. The name given by van Lenthe et al. is the zeroth-order regular approximation, ZORA, which we will adopt here. The zeroth-order Hamiltonian is... 

A one-component quasirelativistic DFT method, also a part of the ADF package [92], was extensively used in the calculations for transition element and actinide compounds. (Earlier, the quasirelativistic Hartree-Fock-Slater (QR HFS) method was widely used for such calculations [93]). In this method, the Hamiltonian contains relativistic corrections already in the zeroth-order and is therefore called the zeroth-order regular approximation (ZORA) [94, 95]. The spin operator is also included in the ZORA Fock operator [96]. Other popular quasirelativistic 2c-DFT methods are based on the DKH approximation [97, 98] and implemented in many program packages. The following codes should also be mentioned of Rbsch [99, 100], Ziegler [101], and Case and Young [102]. They were, however, not used for the heaviest elements. A review on relativistic DFT methods for solids can be found in [103]. 

The Amsterdam Density Functional (ADF) method [118,119] was used for calculations of some transactinide compounds. In a modem version of the method, the Hamiltonian contains relativistic corrections already in the zeroth order and is called the zero-order regular approximation (ZORA) [120]. Recently, the spin-orbit operator was included in the ZORA Fock operator [121]. The ZORA method uses analytical basis fimctions, and gives reliable geometries and bonding descriptions. For elements with a very large SO splitting, like 114, ZORA can deviate from the 4-component DFT results due to an improper description of the pi/2 spinors [117]. Another one-component quasirelativistic scheme [122] applied to the calculations of dimers of elements 111 and 114[116,117]isa modification of the ZORA method. 

These problems are avoided if one uses regular Hamiltonians which are bounded from below. Many applications are based on the so-called zero order regular approximation (ZORA), which has been extensively investigated by the Amsterdam group [46-50]. It can be viewed as the first term in a clever expansion of the elimination of the small component, an expansion which already covers, at zeroth order, a substantial part of the relativistic effects. In fact ZORA is a rediscovery of the so-called CPD Hamiltonian (named after the authors. Ref. [60]). 

If we wish to incorporate some level of relativistic effects into the zeroth-order Hamiltonian, we cannot start from Pauli perturbation theory or direct perturbation theory. But can we find an alternative expansion that contains relativistic corrections and is valid for all r that is, can we derive a regular expansion that is convergent for all reasonable values of the parameters The expansion we consider in this chapter has roots in the work by Chang, Pelissier, and Durand (1986) and HeuUy et al. (1986), which was developed further by van Lenthe et al. (1993, 1994). These last authors coined the term regular approximation because of the properties of the expansion. 

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