Configuration Interaction Level Research Articles

Theoretical Insights into the Vibrational Structure of Carbon Dioxide Rare-Gas Complexes.

Two new flexible-monomer two-body ab initio potential energy surfaces (PESs) for the neon and krypton van der Waals complexes with carbon dioxide were developed, extending our previous work on the Ar-CO2 molecule. The accuracy of the PESs was validated by their agreement with the vibrational spectrum of the rare-gas complexes. The intermolecular and intramolecular vibrational excitation energies were computed at the vibrational self-consistent field and vibrational configuration interaction levels of theory. Overall, the agreement between theory and experiment is excellent throughout the vibrational spectra. The observed slight splitting of the bending modes, resulting from their nondegeneracy in the complexes, is confirmed by our computations, and the results qualitatively agree with the experiment. The splitting increases with increasing polarizability of the rare-gas atom. Additionally, we explain a discrepancy in the mode assignment in the intermolecular region of the neon complex with our VCI character assignment.

Coupled 3D (J ≥ 0) Time-Dependent Wave Packet Calculation for the F + H2 Reaction on Accurate Ab Initio Multi-State Diabatic Potential Energy Surfaces.

We had calculated adiabatic potential energy surfaces (PESs), nonadiabatic, and spin-orbit (SO) coupling terms among the lowest three electronic states (12A', 22A', and 12A″) of the F + H2 system using the multireference configuration interaction (MRCI) level of theory, and the adiabatic-to-diabatic transformation equations were solved to formulate the diabatic Hamiltonian matrix [J. Chem. Phys. 2020, 153, 174301] for the entire region of the nuclear configuration space. The accuracy of such diabatic PESs is explored by performing scattering calculations to evaluate integral cross sections (ICSs) and rate constants. The nonadiabatic and SO effects are studied by utilizing coupled 3D time-dependent wave packet formalism with zero and nonzero total angular momentum on multiple adiabatic/diabatic surfaces calculation. We depict the convergence profiles of reaction probabilities for the reactive as well as nonreactive processes on various electronic states at different collision energies with respect to total angular momentum including all helicity quantum numbers. Finally, total ICSs are calculated as functions of collision energies for the initial rovibrational state (v = 0, j = 0) of the H2 molecule along with the temperature-dependent rate coefficient, where those quantities are compared with previous theoretical and experimental results.

Machine Learning Many-Body Green's Functions for Molecular Excitation Spectra.

We present a machine learning (ML) framework for predicting Green's functions of molecular systems, from which photoemission spectra and quasiparticle energies at quantum many-body level can be obtained. Kernel ridge regression is adopted to predict self-energy matrix elements on compact imaginary frequency grids from static and dynamical mean-field electronic features, which gives direct access to real-frequency many-body Green's functions through analytic continuation and Dyson's equation. Feature and self-energy matrices are represented in a symmetry-adapted intrinsic atomic orbital plus projected atomic orbital basis to enforce rotational invariance. We demonstrate good transferability and high data efficiency of the proposed ML method across molecular sizes and chemical species by showing accurate predictions of density of states (DOS) and quasiparticle energies at the level of many-body perturbation theory (GW) or full configuration interaction. For the ML model trained on 48 out of 1995 molecules randomly sampled from the QM7 and QM9 data sets, we report the mean absolute errors of ML-predicted highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energies to be 0.13 and 0.10 eV, respectively, compared to GW@PBE0. We further showcase the capability of this method by applying the same ML model to predict DOS for significantly larger organic molecules with up to 44 heavy atoms.

Potential energy surface and quantum dynamics calculation of SH2− (2A′) based on ab initio scaled external correlation correction

An accurate interatomic potential energy surface for ground state of SH2− is reported at the multireference configuration interaction level of theory using aug–cc–pVQZ basis set. The calculated ab initio energy points are utilized, after semi-empirically correcting the dynamical correlation by the many-body expansion-scaled external correlation method. To verify the accuracy of the potential energy surface, molecular reaction dynamics, including the relationship between reaction probability and collision energy, thermal rate constant, and integral scattering cross section are calculated by using the quantum time-dependent wave packet method. The final results show that our potential energy surface is accurate and the molecular reaction dynamics results are satisfactory, and the accurate potential energy surface and its dynamics results can also lay a foundation for the future experimental research of SH−-containing molecules.

Photoionization cross sections and photoelectron angular distributions of molecules with XCHEM-2.0

The XCHEM code was introduced in 2017 [1] to provide an accurate description of electron correlation and exchange in the electronic continuum of molecules at the same level as complete or restricted active-space self-consistent field (CASSCF or RASSCF) methods. This has allowed for an accurate description of molecular photoionization in the region of Feshbach resonances, shake up processes in which ionization is accompanied by excitation of one or several of the remaining electrons, and interchannel couplings. The success of XCHEM for small molecules has led us to improve its performance in several aspects, which now allows for the description of resonant molecular photoionization in larger systems. In addition, we have incorporated the possibility to calculate photoelectron angular distributions in the laboratory and molecular frames, which are essential to interpret angularly resolved photoionization experiments. Here we show its performance in the N2 and pyrazine molecules. The new version of the code, XCHEM-2.0, is freely available at https://gitlab.com/xchem/xchem_public. Program summaryProgram Title: XCHEM-2.0CPC Library link to program files:https://doi.org/10.17632/t8tbk9gdt2.1Developer's repository link:https://gitlab.com/xchem/xchem_public/-/archive/2.0.0/xchem_public-2.0.0.tar.gzLicensing provisions: LGPLProgramming language: Fortran, pythonNature of problem: Understanding photoionization of molecules is a recurrent goal in Atomic, Molecular and Optical physics, even more nowadays with the advent of XUV and X-ray high-harmonic generation sources and free electron lasers. Photoionization can be employed to induce electron dynamics in molecules, e.g., by using ultrashort XUV or X-ray pulses, or as a probe of these dynamics by recording time-resolved photoelectron spectra. At low photoelectron energies, photoionization may result from various competing processes, such as direct ionization, autoionization of Feshbach and shape resonances, shake up, etc., each of these leaving its trace in the measured spectra. So, interpretation of these spectra can be a difficult task and theoretical simulations are often required to separate the different contributions. However, a method able to do so must be able to describe electron correlation in the electronic continuum beyond the Hartree-Fock (HF) and configuration interaction singles (CIS) approximations. XCHEM-2.0 has been designed to account for all these processes by providing an accurate description of electron correlation in the ionization continuum of molecules.Solution method: XCHEM-2.0 employs a close coupling formalism to describe the electronic continuum of molecules at the level of multiference configuration interaction (MRCI) methods in combination with a hybrid Gaussian-Bspline basis set (the so-called GABs basis). In particular, it makes use of a restricted active space self-consistent field (RASSCF) approximation to evaluate the bound electronic states of the remaining molecular cation using localized Gaussian functions. These localized Gaussians are then supplemented with a single centered Gaussian expansion to allow the electron to leave the nuclear environment. Finally, the basis set includes a set of B-spline functions, centered at the same position as the single-centered Gaussians, which reach the asymptotic region. Thanks to the last B-spline function, which does not vanish at the box boundary, XCHEM-2.0 can determine continuum states fulfilling any required asymptotic behavior. The present version of the code improves on the original version by incorporating a more efficient augmentation procedure to build Ne-electron configurations from (Ne−1) ones, reducing the space to store data, providing a more efficient removal of linear dependencies resulting from the over-completeness of the polycentric+GABS basis and a more efficient solution of the scattering equations, and including new routines to calculate photoelectron angular distributions in the laboratory and molecular frames.Additional comments including restrictions and unusual features: The proposed method focuses on RASSCF methodology, so part of electron correlation is still not included. Also, one- and two electron integrals involving exclusively Gaussian functions are done using a modified version of the OpenMOLCAS software, so the installation of this code is also required and limitation associated with the latter is applicable. The code is limited to include a few ionization channels (around 20) with medium angular momentum (limited to ℓ = 15 as in OpenMOLCAS).

He+ +N2 Charge Transfer Reaction: An Ab initio Analysis.

An ab initio analysis on the involved potential energy surfaces is presented for the investigation of the charge transfer mechanism for the He+ +N2 system. At high collision energy, as many as seven low-lying electronic states are observed to be involved in the charge transfer mechanism. Potential energy surfaces for these low-lying electronic states have been computed in the Jacobi scattering coordinates, applying multireference configuration interaction level of theory and aug-cc-pVQZ basis sets. Asymptotes for the ground and various excited states are assigned to mark the entrance (He+ +N2 ) and charge transfer channels (He+N2 + ). Nonadiabatic coupling matrix elements and quasi-diabatic potential energy surfaces have been computed for all seven states to rationalize the available experimental data on the charge transfer processes and to facilitate dynamics studies.

Accurate Full-Dimensional Global Diabatic Potential Energy Matrix for the Two Lowest-Lying Electronic States of the H + O2 ↔ HO + O Reaction.

A new and more accurate diabatic potential energy matrix (DPEM) is developed for the two lowest-lying electronic states of HO2, covering both the strong interaction region and reaction asymptotes. The ab initio calculations were performed at the Davidson corrected multireference configuration interaction level with the augmented correlation-consistent polarized valence quintuple-zeta basis set (MRCI+Q/AV5Z). The accuracy of the electronic structure calculations is validated by excellent agreement with the experimental HO2 equilibrium geometry, fundamental vibrational frequencies, and H + O2 ↔ OH + O reaction energy. Through the combination of an electronic angular momentum-method and a configuration interaction vector-based method, the mixing angle between the first two 2A″ states of HO2 was successfully determined. Elements of the 2×2 DPEM were fit to neural networks with a proper account of the complete nuclear permutation inversion symmetry of HO2. The DPEM correctly predicted the properties of conical intersection seams at linear and T-shape geometries, thus providing a reliable platform for studying both the spectroscopy of HO2 and the nonadiabatic dynamics for the H + O2 ↔ OH + O reaction.

Reaction dynamics of C(3P) + Si2(X $^{3}\Sigma ^-_g$ ) → Si(3P) + SiC(X 3Π) on a global CHIPR potential energy surface of the ground state Si2C(X 1A1)

ABSTRACT The dynamics of C(3P) + Si2(X $^{3}\Sigma ^-_g$ ) → Si(3P) + SiC(X 3Π) on its ground state Si2C(X 1A1) are of great significance in carbon-rich interstellar chemistry. Using the combined-hyperbolic-inverse-power-representation method, we construct the first global potential energy surface (PES) for the electronic ground state Si2C(X 1A1) based on a total of 4080 ab initio energy points, which are obtained at the Davidson-corrected internally contracted multireference configuration interaction level of theory. The topographical features of the newly constructed PES are examined in detail and show good agreement with previous theoretical and experimental studies. Finally, we investigate the C(3P) + Si2(X $^{3}\Sigma ^-_g$ ) → Si(3P) + SiC(X 3Π) reaction using the quasi-classical trajectory and time-dependent wave packet calculations, yielding reasonable integral cross sections and rate constants, which are expected to be useful for astrochemical modelling in carbon-rich interstellar environments.

Single-photon ionization of SiC in the gas phase: experimental and ab initio characterization of SiC.

We report the first experimental observation of single-photon ionization transitions of the SiC radical between 8.0 and 11.0 eV performed on the DESIRS beamline at the SOLEIL synchrotron facility. The SiC radical, very difficult to synthesize in the gas phase, was produced through chemical reactions between CHx (x = 0-3) and SiHy (y = 0-3) in a continuous microwave discharge flow tube, the CHx and SiHy species being formed by successive hydrogen-atom abstractions induced by fluorine atoms on methane and silane, respectively. Mass-selected ion yield and photoelectron spectra were recorded as a function of photon energy using a double imaging photoelectron/photoion coincidence spectrometer. The photoelectron spectrum enables the first direct experimental determinations of the X+ 4Σ- ← X 3Π and 1+ 2Π ← X 3Π adiabatic ionization energies of SiC (8.978(10) eV and 10.216(24) eV, respectively). Calculated spectra based on Franck-Condon factors are compared with the experimental spectra. These spectra were obtained by solving the rovibrational Hamiltonian, using the potential energy curves calculated at the multireference single and double configuration interaction level with Davidson correction (MRCI + Q) and the aug-cc-pV5Z basis set. MRCI + Q calculations including the core and core-valence electron correlation were performed using the aug-cc-pCV6Z basis set to predict the spectroscopic properties of the six lowest electronic states of SiC+. Complete basis set extrapolations and relativistic energy corrections were also included in the determination of the energy differences characterizing the photoionization process. Using our experimental and theoretical results, we derived semi-experimental values for the five lowest ionization energies of SiC.

Full-dimensional potential energy surface for the photodissociation of HNCO via its S1 band.

A full-dimensional potential energy surface (PES) for the first excited state S1(1A'') of HNCO has been built up by the neural network method based on more than 36 000 ab initio points, which were calculated at the multireference configuration interaction level with Davidson correction using the augmented correlation consistent polarized valence triple zeta basis set. It was found that two minima, namely, trans and cis isomers of HNCO, and another seven stationary points exist on the S1 PES for the two dissociation pathways: HNCO(S1) → H + NCO/NH + CO. Particularly, a new out-of-plane transition state between the two minima was found in this work, thanks to including all the degree of freedoms for this system. The adiabatic excitation energy of the S1(1A'') ← S0(1A') transition and dissociation energies D0(HNCO → H + NCO) and D0((HNCO →NH(a1Δ) + CO) calculated on the PES are in good agreement with experimental results. In addition, based on the newly constructed S1 PES, the percentage of products H + NCO in the photodissociation of HNCO(S1) was obtained by a quasi-classical trajectory method at the photon wavelengths ranging from 190 to 225 nm, which is in reasonably good agreement with earlier theoretical and experimental results. For the dissociation lifetimes of the trajectories, they were calculated to be less than 5 ps, which is also consistent with experimental observations.

Nonadiabatic quantum dynamics of the charge transfer reaction H+ + NO(X2Π) → H + NO+(X1Σ+).

Nonadiabatic quantum dynamics of the charge transfer (CT) reaction H+ + NO(X2Π) → H + NO+(X1Σ+) is investigated on a new diabatic potential energy matrix (PEM) including the 12A' and 22A' states of HNO+/HON+ at the multireference configuration interaction level with Davidson correction using a large basis set. The diabatization of the two coupled states was achieved by the adiabatic-to-diabatic transformation with a mixing angle and the final diabatic PEM was obtained by fitting each matrix element separately using a three-dimensional cubic spline interpolation including more than 22 000 ab initio points. The reaction was found to be dominated by the resonances supported by the double well associated with HNO+ and HON+ species, manifested by the oscillatory structures in the reaction probabilities and product rotational distributions. The product vibrational states were highly excited due to the large exothermicity of the reaction. Consistent with the complex-forming mechanism, the differential cross sections (DCSs) were found to be dominated by the forward and backward scatterings. A clear forward bias in the vibrational state resolved DCSs suggests that the non-statistical behavior of the reaction mainly comes from the low vibrational states of the product. In addition, the rate constants of the reaction in the temperature range from 50 to 500 K were computed for the first time and found to be in fairly good agreement with the available experimental results at 300 K. In particular, compared to other reactions involving neutral species in this system including N, O, and H atoms, such a CT reaction was found to be much more reactive, which has rate constants more than thirty times larger.

Potential energy surfaces for singlet and triplet states of the LiH2+ system and quasi-classical trajectory cross sections for H + LiH+ and H+ + LiH.

A new set of six accurate ab initio potential energy surfaces (PESs) is presented for the first three singlet and triplet states of LiH2+ (1,21A', 11A'', 1,23A', and 13A'' states, where four of them are investigated for the first time), which have allowed new detailed studies gaining a global view on this interesting system. These states are relevant for the study of the most important reactions of lithium chemistry in the early universe. More than 45 000 energy points were calculated using the multi-reference configuration interaction level of theory using explicitly correlated methods (ic-MRCI-F12), and the results obtained for each individual electronic state were fitted to an analytical function. Using quasiclassical trajectories and considering the initial diatomic fragment in the ground rovibrational state, we have determined the integral cross sections for the H + LiH+(X2Σ+, C2Π) and H+ + LiH(X1Σ+, B1Π) reactions. In these calculations all available reaction channels were considered: the chemically most important H or H+ transfer/abstraction as well as atom exchange and collision induced dissociation for up to 1.0 eV of collision energy.

New accurate diabatic potential energy surfaces for the two lowest 1A'' states of H2S and photodissociation dynamics in its first absorption band.

In this work, state-to-state photodissociation dynamics of H2S in its first absorption band has been studied quantum mechanically with a new set of coupled potential energy surfaces (PESs) for the first two 1A'' excited states, which were developed at the explicitly correlated internally contracted multi-reference configuration interaction level with the cc-pVQZ-F12 basis set and a large active space. The calculated absorption spectrum, product state distributions, and angular distributions are in excellent agreement with available experimental data, validating the accuracy of the PESs and the non-adiabatic couplings. Detailed analysis of the dynamics reveals that there are strong non-adiabatic couplings between the bound 11B1 and dissociative 11A2 states around the Franck-Condon region, leading to very fast predissociation to ro-vibrationally cold SH(X̃) fragments, during which marginal angular anisotropy of the PESs is involved. This study provides quantitatively accurate characterization of the electronic structure and detailed fragmentation dynamics of this prototypical photodissociation system, which is desirable for improving astrochemical modelling.

The feasibility of laser cooling: an investigation of ab initio of 88Sr35Cl including the hyperfine structure

ABSTRACT A promising laser cooling candidate molecule is essential for laser cooling experiments. In this study, the possibility of laser cooling an 88Sr35Cl molecule is investigated using an ab initio method. Seven low-lying Λ-S and six Ω electronic states of the 88Sr35Cl molecule are calculated at a multi-reference configuration interaction level of theory. Spectral constants of bound states of fitted values are in good agreement with experimental values, which are better than the previously obtained theoretical data for higher excitation states. The resulting permanent and transition dipole moments near the equilibrium bond length are close to the theoretical values. Potential energy curves and transition dipole moments are used for obtaining highly diagonally distributed Franck-Condon factors for the A2Π → X2Σ+ transition using the LEVEL program. A short radiative lifetime of the A2Π state is determined; a laser cooling scheme is designed in the vibration level that requires a cooling main laser beam and two repumping laser beams. Transition spectral data of hyperfine energy levels with errors relative to the experimental data do not exceed −0.25∼0.19 MHz when using a quantum effective Hamiltonian approach. This study provides a helpful reference for experimental observation and operation of laser cooling the 88Sr35Cl molecule.

Benchmarking Gaussian Basis Sets in Quantum-Chemical Calculations of Photoabsorption Spectra of Light Atomic Clusters.

The choice of Gaussian basis functions for computing the ground-state properties of molecules and clusters, employing wave function-based electron-correlated approaches, is a well-studied subject. However, the same cannot be said when it comes to the excited-state properties of such systems, in general, and optical properties, in particular. The aim of the present study is to understand how the choice of basis functions affects the calculations of linear optical absorption in clusters, qualitatively and quantitatively. For this purpose, we have calculated linear optical absorption spectra of several small charged and neutral clusters, namely, Li2, Li3, Li4, B2 +, B3 +, Be2 +, and Be3 +, using a variety of Gaussian basis sets. The calculations were performed within the frozen-core approximation, and a rigorous account of electron correlation effects in the valence sector was taken by employing various levels of configuration interaction (CI) approach both for the ground and excited states. Our results on the peak locations in the absorption spectra of Li3 and Li4 are in very good agreement with the experiments. Our general recommendation is that for excited-state calculations, it is very important to utilize those basis sets which contain augmented functions. Relatively smaller aug-cc-pVDZ basis sets also yield high-quality results for photoabsorption spectra and are recommended for such calculations if the computational resources are limited.

Quantum Algorithm for Numerical Energy Gradient Calculations at the Full Configuration Interaction Level of Theory.

A Bayesian phase difference estimation (BPDE) algorithm allows us to compute the energy gap of two electronic states of a given Hamiltonian directly by utilizing the quantum superposition of their wave functions. Here we report an extension of the BPDE algorithm to the direct calculation of the energy difference of two molecular geometries. We apply the BPDE algorithm for the calculation of numerical energy gradients based on the two-point finite-difference method, enabling us to execute geometry optimization of one-dimensional molecules at the full-CI level on a quantum computer. Results of numerical quantum circuit simulations of the geometry optimization of the H2 molecule with the STO-3G and 6-31G basis sets, the LiH and BeH2 molecules at the full-CI/STO-3G level, and the N2 molecule at the CASCI(6e,6o)/6-311G* level are given.

The many-body expansion for metals. I. The alkaline earth metals Be, Mg, and Ca

We examine the many-body expansion (MBE) for alkaline earth metal clusters, Ben, Mgn, Can (n = 4, 5, 6), at the Møller–Plesset second order perturbation theory, coupled-cluster singles and doubles with perturbative triples, multi-reference perturbation theory, and multi-reference configuration interaction levels of theory. The magnitude of each term in the MBE is evaluated for several geometrical configurations. We find that the behavior of the MBE for these clusters depends strongly on the geometrical arrangement and, to a lesser extent, on the level of theory used. Another factor that affects the MBE is the in situ (ground or excited) electronic state of the individual atoms in the cluster. For most geometries, the three-body term is the largest, followed by a steady decrease in absolute energy for subsequent terms. Though these systems exhibit non-negligible multi-reference effects, there was little qualitative difference in the MBE when employing single vs multi-reference methods. Useful insights into the connectivity and stability of these clusters have been drawn from the respective potential energy surfaces and quasi-atomic orbitals for the various dimers, trimers, and tetramers. Through these analyses, we investigate the similarities and differences in the binding energies of different-sized clusters for these metals.

ExoMol line lists – XLVI. Empirical rovibronic spectra of silicon mononitrate (SiN) covering the six lowest electronic states and four isotopologues

ABSTRACT Silicon mononitride (28Si14N, 29Si14N, 30Si14N, 28Si15N) line lists covering infrared, visible, and ultraviolet regions are presented. The SiNful line lists produced by ExoMol include rovibronic transitions between six electronic states: $X\, {}^{2}\Sigma ^{+}$, $A\, {}^{2}\Pi$, $B\, {}^{2}\Sigma ^{+}$, $D\, {}^{2}\Delta$, $a\, {}^{4}\Sigma ^{+}$, $b\, {}^{4}\Pi$. The ab initio potential energy and coupling curves, computed at the multireference configuration interaction (MRCI/aug-cc-pVQZ) level of theory, are refined for the observed states by fitting their analytical representations to 1052 experimentally derived SiN energy levels determined from rovibronic bands belonging to the X–X, A–X, and B–X electronic systems through the MARVEL procedure. The SiNful line lists are compared to previously observed spectra, recorded and calculated lifetimes, and previously calculated partition functions. SiNful is available via the www.exomol.com database.

Fano-Feshbach formalism applied to the calculation of autoionization widths through analytic continuation.

A method to calculate the autoionization width from a discretized pseudo-spectrum is proposed. This method relies on an analytic continuation of Green's function within the Fano-Feshbach formalism. The pseudo-spectrum is obtained at the multireference configuration interaction level in a square-integrable basis set, commonly found in quantum chemistry software. Few states around the desired resonance are needed to perform the analytic continuation. This method was applied to atomic (He and Ne) and molecular (HF and benzene) systems, and the results for the autoionization width show good agreement with the available theoretical and experimental values.

Experimental and theoretical investigation of excited g-symmetry states of Cu2

A new set of rovibronic terms in the range between ∼37000 and 39000cm-1 is reported for the copper dimer isotopologues 63Cu2 and 63Cu65Cu. These terms were measured by two-color four-wave mixing spectroscopy yielding rotationally resolved vibronic bands at a resolution ∼0.04cm-1. The complex spectral structure is analyzed and a tentative assignment of a new electronic state of gerade symmetry named {36.9}0g+ is proposed. The assignment is corroborated by ab initio calculations carried out at the multi-reference configuration interaction level of theory.