Electronic stress tensor of the hydrogen molecular ion: Comparison between the exact wave function and approximate wave functions using Gaussian basis sets

Abstract

We investigate the electronic stress tensor of the hydrogen molecular ion H 2 + for the ground state using the exact wave function and wave functions approximated by Gaussian function basis set expansion. The spatial distribution of the largest eigenvalue, corresponding eigenvectors, tension and kinetic energy density are compared. We find that the cc-pV6Z basis set gives the spindle structure very close to the one calculated from the exact wave function. Similarly, energy density at the Lagrange point is very well approximated by the cc-pV5Z or cc-pV6Z basis sets.