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A. Eugene DePrince III

Publications and source records attributed to A. Eugene DePrince III.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Variational Determination of the Two-Electron Reduced Density Matrix: A Tutorial Review

The two-electron reduced density matrix (2RDM) carries enough information to evaluate the electronic energy of a many-electron system. The variational 2RDM (v2RDM) approach seeks to determine the 2RDM directly, without knowledge of the wave function, by minimizing this energy with respect to variations in the elements of the 2RDM, while also enforcing known N-representability conditions. In this tutorial review, we provide an overview of the theoretical underpinnings of the v2RDM approach and the N-representability constraints that are typically applied to the 2RDM. We also discuss the semidefinite programming (SDP) techniques used in v2RDM computations and provide enough Python code to develop a working v2RDM code that interfaces to the libSDP library of SDP solvers.

physics.chem-ph↗

Ab initio methods for polariton chemistry

Polariton chemistry exploits the strong interaction between quantized excitations in molecules and quantized photon states in optical cavities to affect chemical reactivity. Molecular polaritons have been experimentally realized by the coupling of electronic, vibrational, and rovibrational transitions to photon modes, which has spurred tremendous theoretical effort to model and explain how polariton formation can influence chemistry. This tutorial review focuses on computational approaches for the electronic strong coupling problem through the combination of familiar techniques from ab initio electronic structure theory and cavity quantum electrodynamics, toward the goal of supplying predictive theories for polariton chemistry. Our aim is to emphasize the relevant theoretical details with enough clarity for newcomers to the field to follow, and to present simple and practical code examples to catalyze further development work.

physics.chem-ph↗

Approximate Exponential Integrators for Time-Dependent Equation-of-Motion Coupled Cluster Theory

With growing demand for time-domain simulations of correlated many-body systems, the development of efficient and stable integration schemes for the time-dependent Schrödinger equation is of keen interest in modern electronic structure theory. In the present work, we present two novel approaches for the formation of the quantum propagator for time-dependent equation-of-motion coupled cluster theory (TD-EOM-CC) based on the Chebyshev and Arnoldi expansions of the complex, non-hermitian matrix exponential, respectively. The proposed algorithms are compared with the short-iterative Lanczos method of Cooper, et al [J. Phys. Chem. A. 2021 125, 5438-5447], the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method (RK4), and exact dynamics for a set of small but challenging test problems. For each of the cases studied, both of the proposed integration schemes demonstrate superior accuracy and efficiency relative to the reference simulations.

physics.chem-ph↗

Single reference treatment of strongly correlated H$_4$ and H$_{10}$ isomers with Richardson-Gaudin states

Richardson-Gaudin (RG) states are employed as a variational wavefunction ansatz for strongly correlated isomers of H$_4$ and H$_{10}$. In each case a single RG state describes the seniority-zero sector quite well. Simple natural orbital functionals offer a cheap and reasonable approximation of the outstanding weak correlation in the seniority-zero sector, while systematic improvement is achieved by performing a configuration interaction (CI) in terms of RG states. Other pair theories (e.g. generalized valence bond and pair-coupled-cluster doubles) can provide a good description of many of the geometries considered, but, at short distances, the wavefunctions for the 2D and 3D structures of H$_{10}$ take the form of an RG state that cannot be described by these other theories.

physics.chem-ph↗

N-Representability Violations in Truncated Equation-of-Motion Coupled-Cluster Methods

One-electron reduced density matrices (1RDMs) from equation-of-motion (EOM) coupled-cluster with single and double excitations (CCSD) calculations are analyzed to assess their N-representability ({\em i.e.}, whether they are derivable from an physical N-electron state). We identify EOM-CCSD stationary states whose 1RDMs violate either ensemble-state N-representability conditions or pure-state conditions known as generalized Pauli constraints (GPCs). As such, these 1RDMs do not correspond to any physical N-electron state. Unphysical states are also encountered in the course of time-dependent EOM-CC simulations; when an external field drives transitions between a pair of stationary states with pure-state N-representable 1RDMs, the 1RDM of the time-dependent state can violate ensemble-state conditions. These observations point to potential challenges in interpreting the results of time-dependent EOM-CCSD simulations.

physics.chem-ph↗

Time-Dependent Equation-of-Motion Coupled-Cluster Simulations with a Defective Hamiltonian

Simulations of laser-induced electron dynamics in a molecular system are performed using time-dependent (TD) equation-of-motion (EOM) coupled-cluster (CC) theory. The target system has been chosen to highlight potential shortcomings of truncated TD-EOM-CC methods [represented in this work by TD-EOM-CC with single and double excitations (TD-EOM-CCSD)], where unphysical spectroscopic features can emerge. Specifically, we explore driven resonant electronic excitations in magnesium fluoride in the proximity of an avoided crossing. Near the avoided crossing, the CCSD similarity-transformed Hamiltonian is defective, meaning that it has complex eigenvalues, and oscillator strengths may take on negative values. When an external field is applied to drive transitions to states exhibiting these traits, unphysical dynamics are observed. For example, the stationary states that make up the time-dependent state acquire populations that can be negative, exceed one, or even be complex-valued.

physics.chem-ph↗

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.

physics.chem-ph↗

Assessing the Effects of Orbital Relaxation and the Coherent-State Transformation in Quantum Electrodynamics Density Functional and Coupled-Cluster Theories

Cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) generalizations of time-dependent (TD) density functional theory (DFT) and equation-of-motion (EOM) coupled-cluster (CC) theory are used to model small molecules strongly coupled to optical cavity modes. We consider two types of calculations. In the first approach (termed "relaxed"), we use a coherent-state-transformed Hamiltonian within the ground- and excited-state portions of the calculations, and cavity-induced orbital relaxation effects are included at the mean-field level. This procedure guarantees that the energy is origin invariant in post-self-consistent-field calculations. In the second approach (termed "unrelaxed"), we ignore the coherent-state transformation and the associated orbital relaxation effects. In this case, ground-state unrelaxed QED-CC calculations pick up a modest origin dependence but otherwise reproduce relaxed QED-CC results within the coherent-state basis. On the other hand, a severe origin dependence manifests in ground-state unrelaxed QED mean-field energies. For excitation energies computed at experimentally realizable coupling strengths, relaxed and unrelaxed QED-EOM-CC results are similar, while significant differences emerge for unrelaxed and relaxed QED-TDDFT. First, QED-EOM-CC and relaxed QED-TDDFT both predict that electronic states that are not resonant with the cavity mode are nonetheless perturbed by the cavity. Unrelaxed QED-TDDFT, on the other hand, fails to capture this effect. Second, in the limit of large coupling strengths, relaxed QED-TDDFT tends to overestimate Rabi splittings, while unrelaxed QED-TDDFT underestimates them, given splittings from relaxed QED-EOM-CC as a reference, and relaxed QED-TDDFT generally does the better job of reproducing the QED-EOM-CC results.

physics.chem-ph↗

Fault-tolerant quantum simulation of materials using Bloch orbitals

The simulation of chemistry is among the most promising applications of quantum computing. However, most prior work exploring algorithms for block-encoding, time-evolving, and sampling in the eigenbasis of electronic structure Hamiltonians has either focused on modeling finite-sized systems, or has required a large number of plane wave basis functions. In this work, we extend methods for quantum simulation with Bloch orbitals constructed from symmetry-adapted atom-centered orbitals so that one can model periodic \textit{ab initio} Hamiltonians using only a modest number of basis functions. We focus on adapting existing algorithms based on combining qubitization with tensor factorizations of the Coulomb operator. Significant modifications of those algorithms are required to obtain an asymptotic speedup leveraging translational (or, more broadly, Abelian) symmetries. We implement block encodings using known tensor factorizations and a new Bloch orbital form of tensor hypercontraction. Finally, we estimate the resources required to deploy our algorithms to classically challenging model materials relevant to the chemistry of Lithium Nickel Oxide battery cathodes within the surface code.

quant-ph↗

Reduced-density-matrix-based ab initio cavity quantum electrodynamics

A reduced-density-matrix (RDM)-based approach to {\em ab initio} cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) is developed. The expectation value of the Pauli-Fierz Hamiltonian is expressed in terms of one- and two-body electronic and photonic RDMs, and the elements of these RDMs are optimized directly in polynomial time by semidefinite programming techniques, without knowledge of the full wave function. QED generalizations of important ensemble $N$-representability conditions are derived and enforced in this procedure. The resulting approach is applied to the description of classic ground-state strong electron correlation problems, augmented by the presence of ultrastrong light-matter coupling. First, we assess cavity-induced changes to the singlet-triplet energy gap of the linear oligoacene series; for a heptacene molecule, this gap can change by as much as 1.9 kcal mol$^{-1}$ (or 15\%) when the molecule is aligned along the cavity mode polarization axis. We also explore the metal-insulator transition in linear hydrogen chains and demonstrate that strong electron-photon interactions increase the insulating character of these systems under all coupling strengths considered.

physics.chem-ph↗

Enhanced diastereocontrol via strong light-matter interactions in an optical cavity

The enantiopurification of racemic mixtures of chiral molecules is important for a range of applications. Recent work has shown that chiral group-directed photoisomerization is a promising approach to enantioenrich racemic mixtures of BINOL, but increased control of the diasteriomeric excess (de) is necessary for its broad utility. Here we develop a cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) generalization of time-dependent density functional theory and demonstrate computationally that strong light-matter coupling can alter the de of chiral group-directed photoisomerization of BINOL. The relative orientation of the cavity mode polarization and the molecules in the cavity dictates the nature of the cavity interactions, which either enhance the de of the (R)-BINOL diasteriomer (from 17% to $\approx$ 40%) or invert the favorability to the (S)-BINOL derivative (to $\approx$ 34% de). The latter outcome is particularly remarkable because it indicates that the preference in diasteriomer can be influenced via orientational control, without changing the chirality of the directing group. We demonstrate that the observed effect stems from cavity-induced changes to the Kohn-Sham orbitals of the ground state.

physics.chem-ph↗

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 ($M_{J}$) states in atomic systems described by non-relativistic 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 $M_{J}$ states are 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.

physics.chem-ph↗

Equation-of-motion cavity quantum electrodynamics coupled-cluster theory for electron attachment

The electron attachment variant of equation-of-motion coupled-cluster theory (EOM-EA-CC) is generalized to the case of strong light-matter coupling within the framework of cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED). The resulting EOM-EA-QED-CC formalism provides an ab initio, correlated, and non-perturbative description of cavity-induced effects in many-electron systems that complements other recently proposed cavity-QED-based extensions of coupled-cluster theory. Importantly, this work demonstrates that QED generalizations of EOM-CC theory are useful frameworks for exploring particle non-conserving sectors of Fock space, thereby establishing a path forward for the simultaneous description of both strong electron-electron and electron-photon correlation effects.

physics.chem-ph↗

Challenges for variational reduced-density-matrix theory with three-particle N-representability conditions

The direct variational optimization of the two-electron reduced density matrix (2RDM) can provide a reference-independent description of the electronic structure of many-electron systems that naturally captures strong or nondynamic correlation effects. Such variational 2RDM approaches can often provide a highly accurate description of strong electron correlation, provided that the 2RDMs satisfy at least partial three-particle $N$-representability conditions ({\em e.g.}, the T2 condition). However, recent benchmark calculations on hydrogen clusters [J. Chem. Phys. {\bf 153}, 104108 (2020)] suggest that even the T2 condition leads to unacceptably inaccurate results in the case of 2- and 3-dimensional clusters. We demonstrate that these failures persist under the application of full three-particle $N$-representability conditions (3POS). A variety of correlation metrics are explored in order to identify regimes under which 3POS calculations become unreliable, and we find that the relative squared magnitudes of the cumulant three- and two-particle reduced density matrices correlates reasonably well with the energy error in these systems. However, calculations on other molecular systems reveal that this metric is not a universal indicator for the reliability of reduced-density-matrix theory with 3POS conditions.

physics.chem-ph↗

p$^\dagger$q: A tool for prototyping many-body methods for quantum chemistry

p$^\dagger$q is a C++ accelerated Python library designed to generate equations for many-body quantum chemistry methods and to realize proof-of-concept implementations of these equations for rapid prototyping. Central to this library is a simple interface to define strings of second-quantized creation and annihilation operators and to bring these strings to normal order with respect to either the true vacuum state or the Fermi vacuum. Tensor contractions over fully-contracted strings can then be evaluated using standard Python functions ({\em e.g.}, \np's einsum). Given one- and two-electron integrals these features allow for the rapid implementation and assessment of a wide array of many-body quantum chemistry methods.

physics.chem-ph↗

Cavity-modulated ionization potentials and electron affinities from quantum electrodynamics coupled-cluster theory

Quantum electrodynamics coupled-cluster (QED-CC) theory is used to model vacuum-field-induced changes to ground-state properties of a series of sodium halide compounds (NaX, X = F, Cl, Br, I) strongly coupled to an optical cavity. Ionization potentials (IPs) and electron affinities (EAs) are presented, and it is demonstrated that EAs are easily modulated by cavity interactions, while IPs for these compounds are far less sensitive to the presence of the cavity. EAs predicted by QED-CC can be reduced by as much 0.22 eV (or ~50%) when considering experimentally-accessible coupling parameters.

physics.chem-ph↗

Global hybrid multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory

A global hybrid extension of variational two-electron reduced-density matrix (v2RDM)-driven multiconfiguration pair-density functional theory (MCPDFT) is developed. Using a linear decomposition of the electron-electron repulsion term, a fraction λ of the nonlocal exchange interaction, obtained from v2RDM-driven complete active-space self-consistent field (CASSCF) theory, is combined with its local counterpart, obtained from an on-top pair-density functional. The resulting scheme (called λ-MCPDFT) inherits the benefits of MCPDFT (e.g., its simplicity and the resolution of the symmetry dilemma), and, when combined with the v2RDM approach to CASSCF, λ-MCPDFT requires only polynomially scaling computational effort. As a result, it can efficiently describe static and dynamical correlation effects in strongly correlated systems. The efficacy of the approach is assessed for several challenging multiconfigurational problems, including the dissociation of molecular nitrogen, the double dissociation of a water molecule, and the 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions of ozone to ethylene and ozone to acetylene in the O3ADD6 benchmark set.

physics.chem-ph↗

The Chronus Quantum (ChronusQ) Software Package

The Chronus Quantum (ChronusQ) software package is an open source (under the GNU General Public License v2) software infrastructure which targets the solution of challenging problems that arise in ab initio electronic structure theory. Special emphasis is placed on the consistent treatment of time dependence and spin in the electronic wave function, as well as the inclusion of relativistic effects in said treatments. In addition, ChronusQ provides support for the inclusion of uniform finite magnetic fields as external perturbations through the use of gauge-including atomic orbitals (GIAO). ChronusQ is a parallel electronic structure code written in modern C++ which utilizes both message passing (MPI) and shared memory (OpenMP) parallelism. In addition to the examination of the current state of code base itself, a discussion regarding ongoing developments and developer contributions will also be provided.

physics.chem-ph↗