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Title: Approaching the basis set limit for DFT calculations using an environment-adapted minimal basis with perturbation theory: Formulation, proof of concept, and a pilot implementation

Journal Article · · Journal of Chemical Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4959125· OSTI ID:22679044
; ;  [1];  [2];  [3];  [1]
  1. Kenneth S. Pitzer Center for Theoretical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)
  2. Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)
  3. School of Chemistry, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton, SO17 1BJ (United Kingdom)

Recently developed density functionals have good accuracy for both thermochemistry (TC) and non-covalent interactions (NC) if very large atomic orbital basis sets are used. To approach the basis set limit with potentially lower computational cost, a new self-consistent field (SCF) scheme is presented that employs minimal adaptive basis (MAB) functions. The MAB functions are optimized on each atomic site by minimizing a surrogate function. High accuracy is obtained by applying a perturbative correction (PC) to the MAB calculation, similar to dual basis approaches. Compared to exact SCF results, using this MAB-SCF (PC) approach with the same large target basis set produces <0.15 kcal/mol root-mean-square deviations for most of the tested TC datasets, and <0.1 kcal/mol for most of the NC datasets. The performance of density functionals near the basis set limit can be even better reproduced. With further improvement to its implementation, MAB-SCF (PC) is a promising lower-cost substitute for conventional large-basis calculations as a method to approach the basis set limit of modern density functionals.

OSTI ID:
22679044
Journal Information:
Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 145, Issue 4; Other Information: (c) 2016 Author(s); Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-9606
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English