Analytic energy derivatives for ionized states described by the equation-of-motion coupled cluster method

Abstract

The theory for analytic energy derivatives of excited electronic states described by the equation-of-motion coupled cluster (EOM-CC) method has been generalized to treat cases in which reference and final states differ in the number of electrons. While this work specializes to the sector of Fock space that corresponds to ionization of the reference, the approach can be trivially modified for electron attached final states. Unlike traditional coupled cluster methods that are based on single determinant reference functions, several electronic configurations are treated in a balanced way by EOM-CC. Therefore, this quantum chemical approach is appropriate for problems that involve important nondynamic electron correlation effects. Furthermore, a fully spin adapted treatment of doublet electronic states is guaranteed when a spin restricted closed shell reference state is used—a desirable feature that is not easily achieved in standard coupled cluster approaches. The efficient implementation of analytic gradients reported here allows this variant of EOM-CC theory to be routinely applied to multidimensional potential energy surfaces for the first time. Use of the method is illustrated by an investigation of the formyloxyl radical (HCOO), which suffers from notorious symmetry breaking effects.