Moller-Plesset perturbation theory correlation procedures

The question for a more systematic inclusion of electronic correlation brings us back to the realm of molecular quantum chemistry [51,182]. Recall that (see Section 2.11.3) the exact solution (configuration interaction. Cl) is found on the basis of the self-consistent Hartree-Fock wave function, namely by the excitation of the electrons into the virtual, unoccupied molecular orbitals. Unfortunately, the ultimate goal oi full Cl is obtainable for very small systems only, and restricted Cl is size-inconsistent the amount of electron correlation depends on the size of the system (Section 2.11.3). Thus, size-consistent but perturbative approaches (Moller-Plesset theory) are often used, and the simplest practical procedure (of second order, thus dubbed MP2 [129]) already scales with the fifth order of the system s size N, in contrast to Hartree-Fock theory ( N ). The accuracy of these methods may be systematically improved by going up to higher orders but this makes the calculations even more expensive and slow (MP3 N, MP4 N ). Fortunately, restricted Cl can be mathematically rephrased in the form of the so-called coupled clus-... 

Although small systematic changes in basis sets can frequently lead to erratic alterations of the quantitative nature of the H-bonding phenomenon, subtraction of the superposition error by the counterpoise procedure leads to much more uniform behavior. This argument applies to the correlated as well as SCF level of treatment. Perturbation theory of the Moller-Plesset type furnishes an efficient and accurate means to account for electron correlation. The literature indicates that MP2 calculations are quite reliable for H-bonds, due in large measure to the opposite effects generally observed for the third and fourth-order terms. 

On the one hand, the Moller-Plesset partitioning of into and V is not unique and therefore the different orders of perturbation theory are also not uniquely defined. Various other choices of V were proposed " but they all led to different variants of the Epstein-Nesbet perturbation theory with a shifted denominator. This procedure also seems to be feasible for infinite systems, so there is hope that in the future more than 70 to 75% of the correlation energy will be obtained even in the second order. 

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