skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Influence of pseudopotentials on excitation energies from selected configuration interaction and diffusion Monte Carlo

Journal Article · · Results in Chemistry

Due to their diverse nature, the faithful description of excited states within electronic structure theory methods remains one of the grand challenges of modern theoretical chemistry. Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) methods have been applied very successfully to ground state properties but still remain generally less effective than other non-stochastic methods for electronically excited states. Nonetheless, we have recently reported accurate excitation energies for small organic molecules at the fixed-node diffusion Monte Carlo (FN-DMC) within a Jastrow-free QMC protocol relying on a deterministic and systematic construction of nodal surfaces using the selected configuration interaction (sCI) algorithm known as CIPSI (Configuration Interaction using a Perturbative Selection made Iteratively). Albeit highly accurate, these all-electron calculations are computationally expensive due to the presence of core electrons. One very popular approach to remove these chemically-inert electrons from the QMC simulation is to introduce pseudopotentials (also known as effective core potentials). Taking the water molecule as an example, we investigate the influence of Burkatzki-Filippi-Dolg (BFD) pseudopotentials and their associated basis sets on vertical excitation energies obtained with sCI and FN-DMC methods. Although these pseudopotentials are known to be relatively safe for ground state properties, we evidence that special care may be required if one strives for highly accurate vertical transition energies. Indeed, comparing all-electron and valence-only calculations, we show that using pseudopotentials with the associated basis sets can induce differences of the order of 0.05 eV on the excitation energies. Fortunately, a reasonable estimate of this shift can be estimated at the sCI level.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357; 2018-A0040801738
OSTI ID:
1529010
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1595775
Journal Information:
Results in Chemistry, Journal Name: Results in Chemistry Vol. 1 Journal Issue: C; ISSN 2211-7156
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
Netherlands
Language:
English

References (121)

Vertical and adiabatic excitations in anthracene from quantum Monte Carlo: Constrained energy minimization for structural and electronic excited-state properties in the JAGP ansatz journal June 2015
Size-consistent variational approaches to nonlocal pseudopotentials: Standard and lattice regularized diffusion Monte Carlo methods revisited journal April 2010
Going beyond the vertical approximation with time-dependent density functional theory: Going beyond the vertical approximation with TD-DFT journal April 2016
Using perturbatively selected configuration interaction in quantum Monte Carlo calculations journal September 2013
Selected configuration interaction dressed by perturbation journal August 2018
Equation of Motion Theory for Excited States in Variational Monte Carlo and the Jastrow Antisymmetric Geminal Power in Hilbert Space journal July 2016
Towards an accurate molecular orbital theory for excited states: Ethene, butadiene, and hexatriene journal February 1993
Excited state calculations using phaseless auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo: Potential energy curves of low-lying C2 singlet states journal March 2009
An investigation of nodal structures and the construction of trial wave functions journal November 2005
A full coupled‐cluster singles and doubles model: The inclusion of disconnected triples journal February 1982
Nodal surfaces of helium atom eigenfunctions journal June 2007
Communication: An adaptive configuration interaction approach for strongly correlated electrons with tunable accuracy journal April 2016
Heat-Bath Configuration Interaction: An Efficient Selected Configuration Interaction Algorithm Inspired by Heat-Bath Sampling journal August 2016
N-electron valence state perturbation theory: a fast implementation of the strongly contracted variant journal December 2001
Deterministic Construction of Nodal Surfaces within Quantum Monte Carlo: The Case of FeS journal January 2018
Nodal surfaces and interdimensional degeneracies journal June 2015
Structure of Fermion Nodes and Nodal Cells journal June 2006
Combined Self-Consistent-Field and Spin-Flip Tamm–Dancoff Density Functional Approach to Potential Energy Surfaces for Photochemistry journal December 2012
Surface Chemistry of Silicon Nanoclusters journal February 2002
Multiple-Resonance Local Wave Functions for Accurate Excited States in Quantum Monte Carlo journal February 2016
Multireference perturbation CI II. Selection of the zero-order space
  • Angeli, Celestino; Persico, Maurizio
  • Theoretical Chemistry Accounts: Theory, Computation, and Modeling (Theoretica Chimica Acta), Vol. 98, Issue 2-3 https://doi.org/10.1007/s002140050285
journal December 1997
Assessment of Approximate Coupled-Cluster and Algebraic-Diagrammatic-Construction Methods for Ground- and Excited-State Reaction Paths and the Conical-Intersection Seam of a Retinal-Chromophore Model journal November 2015
Quantum Monte Carlo for electronic excitations of free-base porphyrin journal February 2004
Probing the Photodynamics of Rhodopsins with Reduced Retinal Chromophores journal January 2016
Perturbatively Selected Configuration-Interaction Wave Functions for Efficient Geometry Optimization in Quantum Monte Carlo journal June 2018
Conical intersections and double excitations in time-dependent density functional theory journal March 2006
Helium at zero temperature with hard-sphere and other forces journal May 1974
A new generation of effective core potentials for correlated calculations journal December 2017
Accurate nonrelativistic ground-state energies of 3 d transition metal atoms journal December 2014
Impact of electron density on the fixed-node errors in Quantum Monte Carlo of atomic systems journal March 2012
Fixed-node diffusion Monte Carlo potential energy curve of the fluorine molecule F 2 using selected configuration interaction trial wavefunctions journal January 2015
On the nodal structure of single-particle approximation based atomic wave functions journal August 2008
On the determination of excitation energies using density functional theory journal January 2000
Adaptive multiconfigurational wave functions journal March 2014
Excitations in photoactive molecules from quantum Monte Carlo journal September 2004
Molecular excitation energies to high-lying bound states from time-dependent density-functional response theory: Characterization and correction of the time-dependent local density approximation ionization threshold journal March 1998
Excitation variance matching with limited configuration interaction expansions in variational Monte Carlo journal October 2017
Studies in Configuration Interaction: The First-Row Diatomic Hydrides journal July 1969
The algebraic diagrammatic construction scheme for the polarization propagator for the calculation of excited states journal September 2014
Problematic Energy Differences between Cumulenes and Poly-ynes:  Does This Point to a Systematic Improvement of Density Functional Theory? journal December 2002
Electronic Excitations of Simple Cyanine Dyes: Reconciling Density Functional and Wave Function Methods journal December 2010
Failure of Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory for Long-Range Charge-Transfer Excited States:  The Zincbacteriochlorin−Bacteriochlorin and Bacteriochlorophyll−Spheroidene Complexes journal March 2004
On the Vertical and Adiabatic Excitation Energies of the 2 1 A g State of trans -1,3-Butadiene journal March 2000
Incremental full configuration interaction journal March 2017
Excited states of methylene from quantum Monte Carlo journal September 2009
Charge transfer in time-dependent density functional theory journal September 2017
Diffusion Monte Carlo methods with a fixed number of walkers journal April 2000
Density dependence of fixed-node errors in diffusion quantum Monte Carlo: Triplet pair correlations journal January 2014
Does density functional theory contribute to the understanding of excited states of unsaturated organic compounds? journal October 1999
Ground and excited electronic states of azobenzene: A quantum Monte Carlo study journal December 2010
Convergence of an improved CIPSI algorithm journal February 1983
Excitons in small hydrogenated Si clusters journal June 2001
How much double excitation character do the lowest excited states of linear polyenes have? journal October 2006
Beyond the locality approximation in the standard diffusion Monte Carlo method journal October 2006
Excited states using semistochastic heat-bath configuration interaction journal October 2017
Solvent Effects on Excited-State Structures: A Quantum Monte Carlo and Density Functional Study journal November 2014
Communication: Fixed-node errors in quantum Monte Carlo: Interplay of electron density and node nonlinearities journal January 2014
Mixed time-dependent density-functional theory/classical trajectory surface hopping study of oxirane photochemistry journal September 2008
Approximate and exact nodes of fermionic wavefunctions: Coordinate transformations and topologies journal August 2005
Density functional calculations of the vibronic structure of electronic absorption spectra journal February 2004
G Protein–Coupled Receptor Rhodopsin journal June 2006
Rydberg states with quantum Monte Carlo journal March 2006
Introducing QMC/MMpol: Quantum Monte Carlo in Polarizable Force Fields for Excited States journal March 2016
Fast semistochastic heat-bath configuration interaction journal December 2018
Potential energy surface crossings in organic photochemistry journal January 1996
Relationship between long-range charge-transfer excitation energy error and integer discontinuity in Kohn–Sham theory journal December 2003
Fixed‐node quantum Monte Carlo for molecules a) b) journal December 1982
Gaussian basis sets for use in correlated molecular calculations. I. The atoms boron through neon and hydrogen journal January 1989
Energy-consistent pseudopotentials for quantum Monte Carlo calculations journal June 2007
Symmetry constraints and variational principles in diffusion quantum Monte Carlo calculations of excited-state energies journal August 1999
Double excitations within time-dependent density functional theory linear response journal April 2004
Electron affinities of the first‐row atoms revisited. Systematic basis sets and wave functions journal May 1992
High Accuracy Many-Body Calculational Approaches for Excitations in Molecules journal January 2001
Calculating Absorption Shifts for Retinal Proteins:  Computational Challenges journal March 2005
Hybrid stochastic-deterministic calculation of the second-order perturbative contribution of multireference perturbation theory journal July 2017
Calculation of 0–0 excitation energies of organic molecules by CIS(D) quantum chemical methods journal October 2004
Communication: Toward an improved control of the fixed-node error in quantum Monte Carlo: The case of the water molecule journal April 2016
Assessment of dressed time-dependent density-functional theory for the low-lying valence states of 28 organic chromophores journal November 2011
Excited-State Diffusion Monte Carlo Calculations: A Simple and Efficient Two-Determinant Ansatz journal November 2018
A perturbative correction to restricted open shell configuration interaction with single substitutions for excited states of radicals journal November 1995
CC2 excitation energy calculations on large molecules using the resolution of the identity approximation journal January 2000
Semistochastic Heat-Bath Configuration Interaction Method: Selected Configuration Interaction with Semistochastic Perturbation Theory journal March 2017
Excitation energies from diffusion Monte Carlo using selected configuration interaction nodes journal July 2018
Size Consistent Excited States via Algorithmic Transformations between Variational Principles journal November 2017
Recursive intermediate factorization and complete computational linearization of the coupled-cluster single, double, triple, and quadruple excitation equations journal January 1991
Perspectives on double-excitations in TDDFT journal November 2011
Charge-transfer excited states: Seeking a balanced and efficient wave function ansatz in variational Monte Carlo journal November 2017
Assessment of noncollinear spin-flip Tamm–Dancoff approximation time-dependent density-functional theory for the photochemical ring-opening of oxirane journal January 2010
The CC3 model: An iterative coupled cluster approach including connected triples journal February 1997
A study of the fixed-node error in quantum Monte Carlo calculations of electronic transitions: The case of the singlet n→π∗ (CO) transition of the acrolein journal March 2009
Ground- and Excited-State Geometry Optimization of Small Organic Molecules with Quantum Monte Carlo journal November 2013
Spin Density Distribution in Open-Shell Transition Metal Systems: A Comparative Post-Hartree–Fock, Density Functional Theory, and Quantum Monte Carlo Study of the CuCl 2 Molecule journal November 2014
Hard Numbers for Large Molecules: Toward Exact Energetics for Supramolecular Systems journal February 2014
Implications of the two nodal domains conjecture for ground state fermionic wave functions journal September 2012
Theoretical investigation of several low-lying states of trans, trans-1, 3,5-hexatriene journal February 1988
Valence quantum Monte Carlo with a b i n i t i o effective core potentials journal July 1987
Excitation of the six lowest electronic transitions in water by 9–20 eV electrons journal May 2013
Organic photovoltaics: a chemical approach journal January 2010
Quantum Monte Carlo for large chemical systems: Implementing efficient strategies for petascale platforms and beyond journal January 2013
A Mountaineering Strategy to Excited States: Highly Accurate Reference Energies and Benchmarks journal June 2018
A dressed TDDFT treatment of the 21Ag states of butadiene and hexatriene journal May 2004
Improving virtual Kohn–Sham orbitals and eigenvalues: Application to excitation energies and static polarizabilities journal December 1998
Noncovalent Interactions by Quantum Monte Carlo journal April 2016
Iterative perturbation calculations of ground and excited state energies from multiconfigurational zeroth‐order wavefunctions journal June 1973
Electronic excited-state wave functions for quantum Monte Carlo: Application to silane and methane journal May 2001
Asymptotic correction approach to improving approximate exchange–correlation potentials: Time-dependent density-functional theory calculations of molecular excitation spectra journal November 2000
Quantum Monte Carlo for atoms, molecules and solids journal August 2009
Second-order perturbation theory with a CASSCF reference function journal July 1990
Unexpected Symmetry in the Nodal Structure of the He Atom journal September 2005
Ab initio study of the excited-state coupled electron–proton-transfer process in the 2-aminopyridine dimer journal October 2003
Quantum Monte Carlo Calculations of Nanostructure Optical Gaps: Application to Silicon Quantum Dots journal October 2002
SORCI for photochemical and thermal reaction paths: A benchmark study journal July 2014
Dressed TDDFT study of low-lying electronic excited states in selected linear polyenes and diphenylopolyenes journal September 2010
Quantum Monte Carlo and Related Approaches journal December 2011
Long-range charge-transfer excited states in time-dependent density functional theory require non-local exchange journal August 2003
Energy-consistent small-core pseudopotentials for 3d-transition metals adapted to quantum Monte Carlo calculations journal October 2008
Quantum Monte Carlo with very large multideterminant wavefunctions journal June 2016
Application of Diffusion Monte Carlo to Materials Dominated by van der Waals Interactions journal June 2014
Configuration Interaction Studies of Ground and Excited States of Polyatomic Molecules. I. The CI Formulation and Studies of Formaldehyde journal December 1969
Shape of Multireference, Equation-of-Motion Coupled-Cluster, and Density Functional Theory Potential Energy Surfaces at a Conical Intersection journal June 2014
The third-order algebraic diagrammatic construction method (ADC(3)) for the polarization propagator for closed-shell molecules: Efficient implementation and benchmarking journal August 2014