arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Janus Juul Eriksen.
Over the past decade, the Python-based Simulations of Chemistry Framework (PySCF) has developed into a widely used open-source platform for electronic structure theory and quantum chemical method development. This article reviews the major advances since the previous overview in 2020, covering new modules and methodology, infrastructure changes, and performance benchmarks.
PYSCF is a Python-based general-purpose electronic structure platform that both supports first-principles simulations of molecules and solids, as well as accelerates the development of new methodology and complex computational workflows. The present paper explains the design and philosophy behind PYSCF that enables it to meet these twin objectives. With several case studies, we show how users can easily implement their own methods using PYSCF as a development environment. We then summarize the capabilities of PYSCF for molecular and solid-state simulations. Finally, we describe the growing ecosystem of projects that use PYSCF across the domains of quantum chemistry, materials science, machine learning and quantum information science.
The convergence of a recently proposed coupled cluster (CC) family of perturbation series [Eriksen, J. J. et al., J. Chem. Phys. 140, 064108 (2014)], in which the energetic difference between two CC models - a low-level parent and a high-level target model - is expanded in orders of the Møller-Plesset (MP) fluctuation potential, is investigated for four prototypical closed-shell systems (Ne, singlet methylene, distorted HF, and the fluoride anion) in standard and augmented basis sets. In these investigations, energy corrections of the various series have been calculated to high orders and their convergence radii determined by probing for possible front- and back-door intruder states, the existence of which would make the series divergent. In summary, we conclude how it is primarily the choice of target state, and not the choice of parent state, which ultimately governs the convergence behavior of a given series. For example, restricting the target state to, say, triple or quadruple excitations might remove intruders present in series that target the full configuration interaction (FCI) limit, such as the standard MP series. Furthermore, we find that whereas a CC perturbation series might converge within standard correlation consistent basis sets, it may start to diverge whenever these become augmented by diffuse functions, similar to the MP case. However, unlike for the MP case, such potential divergences are not found to invalidate the practical use of the low-order corrections of the CC perturbation series.
It is demonstrated how the non-proprietary OpenACC standard of compiler directives may be used to compactly and efficiently accelerate the rate-determining steps of two of the most routinely applied many-body methods of electronic structure theory, namely the second-order Møller-Plesset (MP2) model in its resolution-of-the-identity (RI) approximated form and the (T) triples correction to the coupled cluster singles and doubles model (CCSD(T)). By means of compute directives as well as the use of optimized device math libraries, the operations involved in the energy kernels have been ported to graphics processing unit (GPU) accelerators, and the associated data transfers correspondingly optimized to such a degree that the final implementations (using either double and/or single precision arithmetics) are capable of scaling to as large systems as allowed for by the capacity of the host central processing unit (CPU) main memory. The performance of the hybrid CPU/GPU implementations is assessed through calculations on test systems of alanine amino acid chains using one-electron basis sets of increasing size (ranging from double- to pentuple-zeta quality). For all but the smallest problem sizes of the present study, the optimized accelerated codes (using a single multi-core CPU host node in conjunction with six GPUs) are found to be capable of reducing the total time-to-solution by at least an order of magnitude over optimized, OpenMP-threaded CPU-only reference implementations.
The accuracy at which total energies of open-shell atoms and organic radicals may be calculated is assessed for selected coupled cluster perturbative triples expansions, all of which augment the coupled cluster singles and doubles (CCSD) energy by a non-iterative correction for the effect of triple excitations. Namely, the second- through sixth-order models of the recently proposed CCSD(T-n) triples series [J. Chem. Phys. 140, 064108 (2014)] are compared to the acclaimed CCSD(T) model for both unrestricted as well as restricted open-shell Hartree-Fock (UHF/ROHF) reference determinants. By comparing UHF- and ROHF-based statistical results for a test set of 18 modest-sized open-shell species with comparable RHF-based results, no behavioral differences are observed for the higher-order models of the CCSD(T-n) series in their correlated descriptions of closed- and open-shell species. In particular, we find that the convergence rate throughout the series towards the coupled cluster singles, doubles, and triples (CCSDT) solution is identical for the two cases. For the CCSD(T) model, on the other hand, not only its numerical consistency, but also its established, yet fortuitous cancellation of errors breaks down in the transition from closed- to open-shell systems. The higher-order CCSD(T-n) models (orders n>3) thus offer a consistent and significant improvement in accuracy relative to CCSDT over the CCSD(T) model, equally for RHF, UHF, and ROHF reference determinants, albeit at an increased computational cost.
We consider two distinct coupled cluster (CC) perturbation series that both expand the difference between the energies of the CCSD (CC with single and double excitations) and CCSDT (CC with single, double, and triple excitations) models in orders of the Møller-Plesset fluctuation potential. We initially introduce the E-CCSD(T-$n$) series, in which the CCSD amplitude equations are satisfied at the expansion point, and compare it to the recently developed CCSD(T-$n$) series [J. Chem. Phys. 140, 064108 (2014)], in which not only the CCSD amplitude, but also the CCSD multiplier equations are satisfied at the expansion point. The computational scaling is similar for the two series, and both are term-wise size extensive with a formal convergence towards the CCSDT target energy. However, the two series are different, and the CCSD(T-$n$) series is found to exhibit a more rapid convergence up through the series, which we trace back to the fact that more information at the expansion point is utilized than for the E-CCSD(T-$n$) series. The present analysis can be generalized to any perturbation expansion representing the difference between a parent CC model and a higher-level target CC model. In general, we demonstrate that, whenever the parent parameters depend upon the perturbation operator, a perturbation expansion of the CC energy (where only parent amplitudes are used) differs from a perturbation expansion of the CC Lagrangian (where both parent amplitudes and parent multipliers are used). For the latter case, the bivariational Lagrangian formulation becomes more than a convenient mathematical tool, since it facilitates a different and faster convergent perturbation series than the simpler energy-based expansion.