On the representation of coupled adiabatic potential energy surfaces using quasi-diabatic Hamiltonians: A distributed origins expansion approach

Abstract

In two previous papers we have introduced a method to generate coupled quasi-diabatic Hamiltonians (H(d)) that are capable of representing adiabatic energies, energy gradients, and derivative couplings over a wide range of geometries including seams of conical intersection. In this work, two new synergistic features are introduced. Firstly, the functional form of H(d) is generalized. Rather than requiring there to be a low energy point of high symmetry to serve as the unique origin, functions centered on points distributed in nuclear coordinate space are used in the polynomials that comprise the matrix elements in H(d). The use of functions with distributed origins, allows reproduction of the ab initio data with lower order expansions, and offers the possibility of describing multichannel dissociation. The fitting algorithm is combined with a three-step procedure in which the domain of H(d) is extended from a core set of nuclear configurations to a region of nuclear coordinate space appropriate for nuclear dynamics, with a prescribed accuracy. This significant extension of the domain of definition compared to our original work, which is facilitated by the distributed origin approach, is achieved largely through the use of surface hopping trajectories. The 1,2(1)A states of NH(3), which provide an archetypical example of nonadiabatic dynamics, are used to demonstrate the utility of this approach. The representation describes 21 points on the 1(1)A-2(1)A seam of conical intersection and their local topography flawlessly and on the entire domain, the electronic structure data is represented to an accuracy of 77.00 (46.90) cm(-1), as measured by the root mean square (mean unsigned) error for energies lower than 50 000 cm(-1). This error is a factor of 10 lower than that of the most accurate representation of high quality ab initio data, on a comparable domain, previously reported for this system.