N-representability Constraints Research Articles

Data-Driven Refinement of Electronic Energies from Two-Electron Reduced-Density-Matrix Theory.

The exponential computational cost of describing strongly correlated electrons can be mitigated by adopting a reduced-density matrix (RDM)-based description of the electronic structure. While variational two-electron RDM (v2RDM) methods can enable large-scale calculations on such systems, the quality of the solution is limited by the fact that only a subset of known necessary N-representability constraints can be applied to the 2RDM in practical calculations. Here, we demonstrate that violations of partial three-particle (T1 and T2) N-representability conditions, which can be evaluated with knowledge of only the 2RDM, can serve as physics-based features in a machine-learning (ML) protocol for improving energies from v2RDM calculations that consider only two-particle (PQG) conditions. Proof-of-principle calculations demonstrate that the model yields substantially improved energies relative to reference values from configuration-interaction-based calculations.

Challenges for Variational Reduced-Density-Matrix Theory: Total Angular Momentum Constraints.

The variational two-electron reduced density matrix (v2RDM) method is generalized for the description of total angular momentum (J) and projection of total angular momentum (MJ) states in atomic systems described by nonrelativistic Hamiltonians, and it is shown that the approach exhibits serious deficiencies. Under ensemble N-representability constraints, v2RDM theory fails to retain the appropriate degeneracies among various J states for fixed spin (S) and orbital angular momentum (L), and for fixed L, S, and J, the manifold of MJ states is not necessarily degenerate. Moreover, a substantial energy error is observed for a system for which the two-electron reduced density matrix is exactly ensemble N-representable; in this case, the error stems from violations in pure-state N-representability conditions. Unfortunately, such violations do not appear to be good indicators of the reliability of energies from v2RDM theory in general. Several states are identified for which energy errors are near zero and yet pure-state conditions are clearly violated.

A variational principle for the electron density using the exchange hole & its implications for N-representability

We show that the exchange hole determines both the electron density and the number of electrons through a variational principle. An eigenvalue condition related to the exchange hole is also derived. These results provide N-representability constraints on the exchange hole and limit the forms of model exchange holes. Whether a similar principle holds for the exchange-correlation hole is an open question.

A primal–dual semidefinite programming algorithm tailored to the variational determination of the two-body density matrix

The quantum many-body problem can be rephrased as a variational determination of the two-body reduced density matrix, subject to a set of N-representability constraints. The mathematical problem has the form of a semidefinite program. We adapt a standard primal–dual interior point algorithm in order to exploit the specific structure of the physical problem. In particular the matrix-vector product can be calculated very efficiently. We have applied the proposed algorithm to a pairing-type Hamiltonian and studied the computational aspects of the method. The standard N-representability conditions perform very well for this problem.

Parametrization of the two-electron reduced density matrix for its direct calculation without the many-electron wave function: Generalizations and applications

An improved parametrization of the two-electron reduced density matrix (2-RDM) [D. A. Mazziotti, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 253002 (2008)] was recently shown to yield energies and properties that are markedly better than those calculated by traditional ab initio methods of similar computational scaling. In this paper a family of such energy functionals, generalizing the ones obtained previously, is derived through the use of (i) p-particle contraction relations based on the contraction of the cumulant expansions of p-particle RDMs and (ii) Cauchy-Schwarz relations that arise from an important set of N-representability constraints known as the two-positivity conditions. The 2-RDMs are explicitly parameterized in terms of the first-order part of the cumulant 2-RDM and, for the inclusion of single excitations, a second-order part of the 1-RDM. In contrast to earlier formulations based on the coefficients from configuration interaction with single and double excitations (CISD), the cumulant-based parametric 2-RDM methods, from the properties of cumulants, are rigorously size extensive. We also show that writing the energy functionals in terms of correlated 1-RDMs and cumulant 2-RDMs reduces the computational cost of the parametric 2-RDM methods to that of CISD. Applications are made to ground-state energies of several molecules, equilibrium bond distances, and frequencies ofmore » HF, F{sub 2}, and CO, the relative energy of the cis and trans isomers of HO{sub 3}{sup -}, and the HCN-HNC isomerization reaction. For bond breaking in hydrogen fluoride the improved and more efficient parametric 2-RDM methods yield energies with similar accuracies at both equilibrium and nonequilibrium geometries in 6-31G** and polarized valence quadruple-{zeta} basis sets. Computed 2-RDMs very nearly satisfy well-known N-representability conditions.« less

Global Energy Minima of Molecular Clusters Computed in Polynomial Time with Semidefinite Programming

The global energy minima of pure and binary molecular clusters with 5-12 particles interacting pairwise are computed in polynomial time as a function of only the two-particle reduced density function (2-RDF). We derive linear matrix inequalities from the classical analogue of quantum N-representability constraints to ensure that the 2-RDF represents realistic N-particle configurations. The 2-RDF reformulation relaxes a combinatorial optimization into a convex optimization that scales polynomially in computer time. Clusters are optimized with a code for large-scale semidefinite programming developed for the quantum representability problem [D. A. Mazziotti, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 213001 (2004)10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.213001].

Necessary and sufficient conditions for theN-representability of density functionals

It is well known that variational optimization of the energy using approximate density functionals can give results below the true ground-state energy. This can be attributed to the fact that many approximate density functionals are not N-representable. This paper presents a general method for deriving N-representability conditions in density-functional theory and presents specific results for the kinetic energy, the electron-electron interaction energy, the Hohenberg-Kohn functional, and the exchange-correlation energy functional. The method can be extended to energy densities, and specific results are presented for two different choices of the kinetic-energy density. Max-min variational principles for minimizing the energy subject to N-representability constraints are presented. Some constraints on exchange-correlation density functionals are among our secondary findings. In particular, we construct an exact meta-generalized-gradient-approximation meta-GGA functional using a Legendre transform and use this expression to show that a meta-GGAs should be convex functionals of the kinetic-energy density and b the sum of the Coulomb energy and the meta-GGA exchangecorrelation energy should be a convex functional of the electron density.

Generalized density functional theories using the k-electron densities: Development of kinetic energy functionals

Several explicit formulas for the kinetic energy of a many-electron system as a functional of the k-electron density are derived, with emphasis on the electron pair density. The emphasis is on general techniques for deriving approximate kinetic energy functionals and features generalized Weisacker bounds and methods using density-matrix reconstruction. Adapting results from statistical mechanics, a hierarchy of equations is derived that links electron pairs, triplets, quadruplets, etc.; this may be used to derive more accurate approximations. Several methods for defining the exact kinetic energy functional are presented, including the generalizations of the Levy and Lieb formulations of density-functional theory. Together with N-representability constraints on the k-density, this paper provides the basis for “generalized density functional theories” based on the electron pair density. There are also implications for conventional density-functional theory, notably regarding the development of more accurate density functionals for the kinetic energy.

First-order semidefinite programming for the direct determination of two-electron reduced density matrices with application to many-electron atoms and molecules

Direct variational calculation of two-electron reduced density matrices (2-RDMs) for many-electron atoms and molecules in nonminimal basis sets has recently been achieved through the use of first-order semidefinite programming [D. A. Mazziotti, Phys. Rev. Lett. (in press)]. With semidefinite programming, the electronic ground-state energy of a molecule is minimized with respect to the 2-RDM subject to N-representability constraints known as positivity conditions. Here we present a detailed account of the first-order algorithm for semidefinite programming and its comparison with the primal-dual interior-point algorithms employed in earlier variational 2-RDM calculations. The first-order semidefinite-programming algorithm, computations show, offers an orders-of-magnitude reduction in floating-point operations and storage in comparison with previous implementations. We also examine the ability of the positivity conditions to treat strong correlation and multireference effects through an analysis of the Hamiltonians for which the conditions are exact. Calculations are performed in nonminimal basis sets for a variety of atoms and molecules and the potential-energy curves for CO and H(2)O.

Uncertainty relations and reduced density matrices: Mapping many-body quantum mechanics onto four particles

For the description of ground-state correlation phenomena an accurate mapping of many-body quantum mechanics onto four particles is developed. The energy for a quantum system with no more than two-particle interactions may be expressed in terms of a two-particle reduced density matrix (2-RDM), but variational optimization of the 2-RDM requires that it corresponds to an N-particle wave function. We derive N-representability conditions on the 2-RDM that guarantee the validity of the uncertainty relations for all operators with two-particle interactions. One of these conditions is shown to be necessary and sufficient to make the RDM solutions of the dispersion condition equivalent to those from the contracted Schr\odinger equation (CSE) [Mazziotti, Phys. Rev. A 57, 4219 (1998)]. In general, the CSE is a stronger N-representability condition than the dispersion condition because the CSE implies the dispersion condition as well as additional N-representability constraints from the Hellmann-Feynman theorem. Energy minimization subject to the representability constraints is performed for a boson model with 10, 30, and 75 particles. Even when traditional wave-function methods fail at large perturbations, the present method yields correlation energies within 2%.