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Projects
Key features
- Simplified strategies to implement electronic structure methods
- Chilli GTO code family
Documentation
Source codeKey features
- Python implementation of FLO-SIC
- Access to various XC functional via Libxc
- Calculate SIC properties, e.g., total energies and densities
Key features
- Generate electronic geometries, i.e., Fermi-orbital descriptors (FODs)
- These FODs can be used in the FLO-SIC method
- Starting from a mol file generates Lewis FOD configurations
- One can set up Linnett double-quartet (LDQ) configurations
Key features
- HEA : He approach. Calculates the He void fraction using a cell list approach.
- OSA : Overlapping sphere approach. Calculates the porosity via two-body overlaps of spheres.
- GPA : Grid point approach. Void and accessible porosity are calculated using a grid in the unit cell.
- PSD : Pore size distribution. Using a Monte-Carlo scheme, the pore size distribution is calculated.
Publications
Abstract
Fermi-Löwdin orbitals (FLOs) are a special set of localized orbitals, which have become commonly used in combination with the Perdew-Zunger self-interaction correction (SIC) in the FLO-SIC method. The FLOs are obtained for a set of occupied orbitals by specifying a classical position for each electron. These positions are known as Fermi-orbital descriptors (FODs), and they have a clear relation to chemical bonding. In this study, we show how FLOs and FODs can be used to initialize, interpret, and justify SIC solutions in a common chemical picture, both within FLO-SIC and in traditional variational SIC, and to locate distinct local minima in either of these approaches. We demonstrate that FLOs based on Lewis theory lead to symmetry breaking for benzene-the electron density is found to break symmetry already at the symmetric molecular structure-while ones from Linnett's double-quartet theory reproduce symmetric electron densities and molecular geometries. Introducing a benchmark set of 16 planar cyclic molecules, we show that using Lewis theory as the starting point can lead to artifactual dipole moments of up to 1D, while Linnett SIC dipole moments are in better agreement with experimental values. We suggest using the dipole moment as a diagnostic of symmetry breaking in SIC and monitoring it in all SIC calculations. We show that Linnett structures can often be seen as superpositions of Lewis structures and propose Linnett structures as a simple way to describe aromatic systems in SIC with reduced symmetry breaking. The role of hovering FODs is also briefly discussed.
PDFAbstract
We present an interpretation of Fermi-orbital descriptors (FODs) and argue that these descriptors carry chemical bonding information. We show that a bond order derived from these FODs agrees well with reference values, and highlight that optimized FOD positions used within the Fermi-Löwdin orbital self-interaction correction (FLO-SIC) method correspond to expectations from Linnett's double-quartet theory, which is an extension of Lewis theory. This observation is independent of the underlying exchange-correlation functional, which is shown using the local spin density approximation, the Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof generalized gradient approximation (GGA), and the strongly constrained and appropriately normed meta-GGA. To make FOD positions generally accessible, we propose and discuss four independent methods for the generation of Fermi-orbital descriptors, their implementation as well as their advantages and drawbacks. In particular, we introduce a re-implementation of the electron force field, an approach based on the centers of mass of orbital densities, a Monte Carlo-based algorithm, and a method based on Lewis-like bonding information. All results are summarized with respect to future developments of FLO-SIC and related methods.
Abstract
Semilocal approximations to the density functional for the exchange-correlation energy of a many-electron system necessarily fail for lobed one-electron densities, including not only the familiar stretched densities but also the less familiar but closely related noded ones. The Perdew-Zunger (PZ) self-interaction correction (SIC) to a semilocal approximation makes that approximation exact for all one-electron ground- or excited-state densities and accurate for stretched bonds. When the minimization of the PZ total energy is made over real localized orbitals, the orbital densities can be noded, leading to energy errors in many-electron systems. Minimization over complex localized orbitals yields nodeless orbital densities, which reduce but typically do not eliminate the SIC errors of atomization energies. Other errors of PZ SIC remain, attributable to the loss of the exact constraints and appropriate norms that the semilocal approximations satisfy, suggesting the need for a generalized SIC. These conclusions are supported by calculations for one-electron densities and for many-electron molecules. While PZ SIC raises and improves the energy barriers of standard generalized gradient approximations (GGAs) and meta-GGAs, it reduces and often worsens the atomization energies of molecules. Thus, PZ SIC raises the energy more as the nodality of the valence localized orbitals increases from atoms to molecules to transition states. PZ SIC is applied here, in particular, to the strongly constrained and appropriately normed (SCAN) meta-GGA, for which the correlation part is already self-interaction-free. This property makes SCAN a natural first candidate for a generalized SIC.