Self-consistent field Hartree-Fock method

There are two ways to improve the accuracy in order to obtain solutions to almost any degree of accuracy. The first is via the so-called self-consistent field-Hartree-Fock (SCF-HF) method, which is a method based on the variational principle that gives the optimal one-electron wave functions of the Slater determinant. Electron correlation is, however, still neglected (due to the assumed product of one-electron wave functions). In order to obtain highly accurate results, this approximation must also be eliminated.6 This is done via the so-called configuration interaction (Cl) method. The Cl method is again a variational calculation that involves several Slater determinants. 

The most commonly used ab initio method is the self-consistent field Hartree-Fock (SCF-HF) scheme with or without configuration interaction (Cl). 

The self-consistent field Hartree-Fock (HF) method is the foundation of AI quantum chemistry. In this simplest of approaches, the /-electron ground state function T fxj,. X/y) is approximated by a single Slater determinant built from antisymmetrized products of one-electron functions i/r (x) (molecular orbitals, MOs, X includes space, r, and spin, a, = 1/2 variables). MOs are orthonormal single electron wavefunctions commonly expressed as linear combinations of atom-centered basis functions ip as i/z (x) = c/ii /J(x). The MO expansion coefficients are... 

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],... 

In order to make up for those imperfections one needs to turn to post-Hartree-Fock methods. Two variational techniques are worth discussing due to their popularity the configuration-interaction (SCF Cl) method and the multiconfiguration self-consistent-field (MC SCF) method. 

Slater, J. C. A (1951). Simplification of the Hartree-Fock method. Phys. Rev. 81, 385-390. Slater, J. C., Johnson, K. H. (1972). Self-consistent-field Xa cluster method for polyatomic molecules and solids. Phys. Rev. B 5, 844-853. 

Configuration Interaction Density Functional Theory (DFT), Hartree-Fock (HF), and the Self-consistent Field Linear Scaling Methods for Electronic Structure Calculations Pseudospectral Methods in Ab Initio Quantum Chemistry. 

Introductory descriptions of Hartree-Fock calculations [often using Rootaan s self-consistent field (SCF) method] focus on singlet systems for which all electron spins are paired. By assuming that the calculation is restricted to two electrons per occupied orbital, the computation can be done more efficiently. This is often referred to as a spin-restricted Hartree-Fock calculation or RHF. 

SCF (self-consistent field) procedure for solving the Hartree-Fock equations SCI-PCM (self-consistent isosurface-polarized continuum method) an ah initio solvation method... 

In the RISM-SCF theory, the statistical solvent distribution around the solute is determined by the electronic structure of the solute, whereas the electronic strucmre of the solute is influenced by the surrounding solvent distribution. Therefore, the ab initio MO calculation and the RISM equation must be solved in a self-consistent manner. It is noted that SCF (self-consistent field) applies not only to the electronic structure calculation but to the whole system, e.g., a self-consistent treatment of electronic structure and solvent distribution. The MO part of the method can be readily extended to the more sophisticated levels beyond Hartree-Fock (HF), such as configuration interaction (Cl) and coupled cluster (CC). 

Ab initio calculations are iterative procedures based on self-consistent field (SCF) methods. Normally, calculations are approached by the Hartree-Fock closed-shell approximation, which treats a single electron at a time interacting with an aggregate of all the other electrons. Self-consistency is achieved by a procedure in which a set of orbitals is assumed, and the electron-electron repulsion is calculated this energy is then used to calculate a new set of orbitals, which in turn are used to calculate a new repulsive energy. The process is continued until convergence occurs and self-consistency is achieved." ... 

The Hartree-Fock equations form a set of pseudo-eigenvalue equations, as the Fock operator depends on all the occupied MOs (via the Coulomb and Exchange operators, eqs. (3.36) and (3.33)). A specific Fock orbital can only be determined if all the other occupied orbitals are known, and iterative methods must therefore be employed for determining the orbitals. A set of functions which is a solution to eq. (3.41) are called Self-Consistent Field (SCF) orbitals. 

In the bibliography, we have tried to concentrate the interest on contributions going beyond the Hartree-Fock approximation, and papers on the self-consistent field method itself have therefore not been included, unless they have also been of value from a more general point of view. However, in our treatment of the correlation effects, the Hartree-Fock scheme represents the natural basic level for study of the further improvements, and it is therefore valuable to make references to this approximation easily available. For atoms, there has been an excellent survey given by Hartree, and, for solid-state, we would like to refer to some recent reviews. For molecules, there does not seem to exist something similar so, in a special list, we have tried to report at least the most important papers on molecular applications of the Hartree-Fock scheme, t... 

For planar unsaturated and aromatic molecules, many MO calculations have been made by treating the a and n electrons separately. It is assumed that the o orbitals can be treated as localized bonds and the calculations involve only the tt electrons. The first such calculations were made by Hiickel such calculations are often called Hiickel molecular orbital (HMO) calculations Because electron-electron repulsions are either neglected or averaged out in the HMO method, another approach, the self-consistent field (SCF), or Hartree-Fock (HF), method, was devised. Although these methods give many useful results for planar unsaturated and aromatic molecules, they are often unsuccessful for other molecules it would obviously be better if all electrons, both a and it, could be included in the calculations. The development of modem computers has now made this possible. Many such calculations have been made" using a number of methods, among them an extension of the Hiickel method (EHMO) and the application of the SCF method to all valence electrons. ... 

If we except the Density Functional Theory and Coupled Clusters treatments (see, for example, reference [1] and references therein), the Configuration Interaction (Cl) and the Many-Body-Perturbation-Theory (MBPT) [2] approaches are the most widely-used methods to deal with the correlation problem in computational chemistry. The MBPT approach based on an HF-SCF (Hartree-Fock Self-Consistent Field) single reference taking RHF (Restricted Hartree-Fock) [3] or UHF (Unrestricted Hartree-Fock ) orbitals [4-6] has been particularly developed, at various order of perturbation n, leading to the widespread MPw or UMPw treatments when a Moller-Plesset (MP) partition of the electronic Hamiltonian is considered [7]. The implementation of such methods in various codes and the large distribution of some of them as black boxes make the MPn theories a common way for the non-specialist to tentatively include, with more or less relevancy, correlation effects in the calculations. 

The Hartree-Fock orbitals are expanded in an infinite series of known basis functions. For instance, in diatomic molecules, certain two-center functions of elliptic coordinates are employed. In practice, a limited number of appropriate atomic orbitals (AO) is adopted as the basis. Such an approach has been developed by Roothaan 10>. In this case the Hartree-Fock differential equations are replaced by a set of nonlinear simultaneous equations in which the limited number of AO coefficients in the linear combinations are unknown variables. The orbital energies and the AO coefficients are obtained by solving the Fock-Roothaan secular equations by an iterative method. This is the procedure of the Roothaan LCAO (linear-combination-of-atomic-orbitals) SCF (self-consistent-field) method. 

In order to find a good approximate wave function, one uses the Hartree-Fock procedure. Indeed, the main reason the Schrodinger equation is not solvable analytically is the presence of interelectronic repulsion of the form e2/r. — r.. In the absence of this term, the equation for an atom with n electrons could be separated into n hydrogen-like equations. The Hartree-Fock method, also called the Self-Consistent-Field method, regards all electrons except one (called, for instance, electron 1), as forming a cloud of electric charge... 

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