A unified scheme for the calculation of differentiated and undifferentiated molecular integrals over solid-harmonic Gaussians

Abstract

Utilizing the fact that solid-harmonic combinations of Cartesian and Hermite Gaussian atomic orbitals are identical, a new scheme for the evaluation of molecular integrals over solid-harmonic atomic orbitals is presented, where the integration is carried out over Hermite rather than Cartesian atomic orbitals. Since Hermite Gaussians are defined as derivatives of spherical Gaussians, the corresponding molecular integrals become the derivatives of integrals over spherical Gaussians, whose transformation to the solid-harmonic basis is performed in the same manner as for integrals over Cartesian Gaussians, using the same expansion coefficients. The presented solid-harmonic Hermite scheme simplifies the evaluation of derivative molecular integrals, since differentiation by nuclear coordinates merely increments the Hermite quantum numbers, thereby providing a unified scheme for undifferentiated and differentiated four-center molecular integrals. For two- and three-center two-electron integrals, the solid-harmonic Hermite scheme is particularly efficient, significantly reducing the cost relative to the Cartesian scheme.