Potential energy curves for Mo2: multi-component symmetry-projected Hartree–Fock and beyond

Abstract

The molybdenum dimer is an example of a transition metal system with a formal sextuple bond that constitutes a challenging case for ab initio quantum chemistry methods. In particular, the complex binding pattern in the Mo2 molecule requires a high-quality description of non-dynamic and dynamic electron correlation in order to yield the correct shape of the potential energy curve. The present study examines the performance of a recently implemented multi-component symmetry projected Hartree–Fock (HF) approach. In this work, the spin and spatial symmetries of a trial wavefunction written in terms of non-orthogonal Slater determinants are deliberately broken and then restored in a variation-after-projection framework. The resulting symmetry-projected HF wavefunctions, which possess well-defined quantum numbers, can account for static and some dynamic correlations. A single symmetry-projected configuration in a D∞hS-UHF or a D∞hKS-UHF framework offers a reasonable description of the potential energy curve of Mo2, though the binding energy is too small for the former. Our multi-component strategy offers a way to improve on the single configuration result in a systematic way towards the exact wavefunction: in the def2-TZVP basis set considered in this study, a 7-determinant multi-component D∞hS-UHF approach yields a bond length of 2.01 Å, in good agreement with experimental results, while the predicted binding energy is 39.2 mhartree. The results of this exploratory study suggest that a multi-component symmetry-projected HF stategy is a promising alternative in a high-accuracy description of the electronic structure of challenging systems. We also present and discuss some benchmark calculations based on the CEEIS-FCI (correlation energy extrapolation by intrinsic scaling – full configuration interaction) method for selected geometries.