Hartree-Fock theory method

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. 

Reproducing the exact solution for the relevant n-electron problem a method ought to yield the same results as the exact solution to the Schrodinger equation to the greatest extent possible. What this means specifically depends on the theory underlying the method. Thus, Hartree-Fock theory should be (and is) able to reproduce the exact solution to the one electron problem, meaning it should be able to treat cases like HeH ... 

As we have seen throughout this book, the Hartree-Fock method provides a reasonable model for a wide range of problems and molecular systems. However, Hartree-Fock theory also has limitations. They arise principally from the fact that Hartree-Fock theory does not include a full treatment of the effects of electron correlation the energy contributions arising from electrons interacting with one another. For systems and situations where such effects are important, Hartree-Fock results may not be satisfactory. The theory and methodology underlying electron correlation is discussed in Appendix A. 

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. 

These SVWN5 results are somewhat fortuitous. Be careful not to overgeneralize from their agreement to experiment. We will see a different result in Exercise 6.7. Several other excerises will also include comparisons of DFT methods to Hartree-Fock theory, MP2 and other electron correlation methods. 

The UHF curve is much higher than those for the correlation methods Hartree-Fock theory does a relatively poor job of describing this process. The MP2 curve is somewhat higher than those for the MP3 and MP4(SDTQ) levels, which appear to have converged. 

Like Hartree-Fock theory, Cl-Singles is an inexpensive method that can be applied to large systems. When paired with a basis set, it also may be used to define excited state model chemistries whose results may be compared across the full range of practical systems. 

Despite these comparisons to Hartree-Fock theory, the O-Singles method does include some electron correlation. 

Any method which goes beyond SCF in attempting to treat this phenomenon properly is known as an electron correlation method (despite the fact that Hartree-Fock theory does include some correlation effects) or a post-SCT method. We will look briefly at two different approaches to the electron correlation problem in this section. 

Configuration Interaction (Cl) methods begin by noting that the exact wavefunction 4 cannot be expressed as a single determinant, as Hartree-Fock theory assumes. Cl proceeds by constructing other determinants by replacing one or more occupied orbitals within the Hartree-Fock determinant with a virtual orbital. 

What does this mean We have replaced the non-local and therefore fairly complicated exchange term of Hartree-Fock theory as given in equation (3-3) by a simple approximate expression which depends only on the local values of the electron density. Thus, this expression represents a density functional for the exchange energy. As noted above, this formula was originally explicitly derived as an approximation to the HF scheme, without any reference to density functional theory. To improve the quality of this approximation an adjustable, semiempirical parameter a was introduced into the pre-factor Cx which leads to the Xa or Hartree-Fock-Slater (HFS) method which enjoyed a significant amount of popularity among physicists, but never had much impact in chemistry,... 

DFT has come to the fore in molecular calculations as providing a relatively cheap and effective method for including important correlation effects in the initial and final states. ADFT methods have been used, but by far the most popular approach is that based on Slater s half electron transition state theory [73] and its developments. Unlike Hartree-Fock theory, DFT has no Koopmans theorem that relates the orbital energies to an ionisation potential, instead it has been shown that the orbital energy (e,) is related to the gradient of the total energy E(N) of an N-electron system, with respect to the occupation number of the 2th orbital ( , ) [74],... 

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.)... 

Two philosophies have emerged in connection with the various semi-empirical methods (for a review, see Klopman and Evans, 1976). In both cases certain matrix elements are assumed to be negligible, others are computed, and others are chosen according to some criteria. According to one philosophy, the chosen parameters should lead to agreement with exact Hartree-Fock theory. Then, if desired, correlation can be added in some form. Methods called CNDO and INDO are examples of this. A more recent development is the partial retention of diatomic differential overlap (PRDDO) method (see Estreicher et al., 1989). 

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 ... 

Density functional theory (DFT),32 also a semi-empirical method, is capable of handling medium-sized systems of biological interest, and it is not limited to the second row of the periodic table. DFT has been used in the study of some small protein and peptide surfaces. Nevertheless, it is still limited by computer speed and memory. DFT offers a quantum mechanically based approach from a fundamentally different perspective, using electron density with an accuracy equivalent to post Hartree-Fock theory. The ideas have been around for many years,33 34 but only in the last ten years have numerous studies been published. DFT, compared to ab initio... 

When the SCRF method is employed in conjunction with Hartree-Fock theory for the solute, then the Fock operator is given by... 

In the self-consistent field linear response method [25,46,48] also known as random phase approximation (RPA) [49] or first order polarization propagator approximation [25,46], which is equivalent to the coupled Hartree-Fock theory [50], the reference state is approximated by the Hartree-Fock self-consistent field wavefunction < scf) and the set of operators /i j consists of single excitation and de-excitation operators with respect to orbital rotation operators [51],... 

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