arXiv subjects

Sonia Coriani

Publications and source records attributed to Sonia Coriani.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2025

Redundant parameter dependencies in truncated classic and quantum Linear Response and Equation of Motion theory

Extracting molecular properties from a wave function can be done through the linear response (LR) formalism or, equivalently, the equation of motion (EOM) formalism. For a simple model system, He in a 6-31G basis, it is here shown that calculated excitation energies depend on the specifically chosen orbitals, even when the ground-state is the FCI solution, if the LR is truncated to a singles expansion. This holds for naive, projected, self-consistent, and state-transfer parametrizations of the LR operators. With a focus on the state-transfer parameterization, this problem is shown to also hold for more complicated systems, and is also present when the LR is truncated to singles and doubles. This problem can be alleviated by performing a ground-state constrained trace optimization of the Hessian matrix before performing the LR calculation. It is finally shown that spectra can be further improved for small LR expansions by targeting only a few states in the constrained trace optimization using constrained state-averaged UCC.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2025

Exact closed-form expression for unitary spin-adapted fermionic singlet double excitation operators

We derive exact closed-form expressions for the matrix exponential of the anti-Hermitian spin-adapted singlet double excitation fermionic operators. These expressions enable the efficient implementation of such operators within unitary product state frameworks targeting conventional hardware, and allow for the implementation of ansatze that guarantee convergence to specific spin symmetries. Moreover, these exact closed-form expressions might also lay the groundwork for constructing spin-adapted circuits for quantum devices.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Unraveling the relaxation dynamics of Uracil: insights from time-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

We report a study of the electronic and nuclear relaxation dynamics of the photoexcited RNA base uracil in the gas phase, using time-resolved core level photoelectron spectroscopy together with high level calculations. The dynamics was investigated by trajectory surface-hopping calculations, and the core ionization energies were calculated for geometries sampled from these. The molecule was excited by a UV laser and dynamics was probed on the oxygen, nitrogen and carbon site by core electron spectroscopy. Assuming a particular model, we find that the initially excited $S_2(ππ^*)$ state of uracil decays with a time constant of 17 $\pm$ 4 fs to the ground state directly, or to the $S_1(nπ^*)$ state via internal conversion. We find no evidence that the $S_1(nπ^*)$ state decays to the ground state by internal conversion; instead it decays to triplet states with a time constant of 1.6 $\pm$ 0.4 ps. Oscillations of the $S_1(nπ^*)$ state O 1s intensity as a function of time correlate with those of calculated C4=O8 and C5=C6 bond lengths, which undergo a sudden expansion following the initial $π\to π^*$ excitation. We also observe oscillations in the mean energy of the main line (core ionized ionic state), which we tentatively assign to dynamics of the hot ground state. Our calculations support our interpretation of the data, and provide detailed insight into the relaxation processes of uracil.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2024

Self-consistent Quantum Linear Response with a Polarizable Embedding environment

Quantum computing presents a promising avenue for solving complex problems, particularly in quantum chemistry, where it could accelerate the computation of molecular properties and excited states. This work focuses on hybrid quantum-classical algorithms for near-term quantum devices, combining the quantum linear response (qLR) method with a polarizable embedding (PE) environment. We employ the self-consistent operator manifold of quantum linear response (q-sc-LR) on top of a unitary coupled cluster (UCC) wave function in combination with a Davidson solver. The latter removes the need to construct the entire electronic Hessian, improving computational efficiency when going towards larger molecules. We introduce a new superposition-state-based technique to compute Hessian-vector products and show that this approach is more resilient towards noise than our earlier gradient-based approach. We demonstrate the performance of the PE-UCCSD model on systems such as butadiene and para-nitroaniline in water and find that PE-UCCSD delivers comparable accuracy to classical PE-CCSD methods on such simple closed-shell systems. We also explore the challenges posed by hardware noise and propose simple error correction techniques to maintain accurate results on noisy quantum computers.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2024

Electronic dynamics created at conical intersections and its dephasing in aqueous solution

A dynamical rearrangement in the electronic structure of a molecule can be driven by different phenomena, including nuclear motion, electronic coherence or electron correlation. Recording such electronic dynamics and identifying their fate in aqueous solution has remained a challenge. Here, we reveal the electronic dynamics induced by electronic relaxation through conical intersections in pyrazine molecules using X-ray spectroscopy. We show that the ensuing created dynamics corresponds to a cyclic rearrangement of the electronic structure around the aromatic ring. Furthermore, we find that such electronic dynamics are entirely suppressed when pyrazine is dissolved in water. Our observations confirm that conical intersections can create electronic dynamics that are not directly excited by the pump pulse and that aqueous solvation can dephase them in less than 40 fs. These results have implications for the investigation of electronic dynamics created during light-induced molecular dynamics and shed light on their susceptibility to aqueous solvation.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2024

Understanding and mitigating noise in molecular quantum linear response for spectroscopic properties on quantum computers

The promise of quantum computing to circumvent the exponential scaling of quantum chemistry has sparked a race to develop chemistry algorithms for quantum architecture. However, most works neglect the quantum-inherent shot noise, let alone the effect of current noisy devices. Here, we present a comprehensive study of quantum linear response (qLR) theory obtaining spectroscopic properties on simulated fault-tolerant quantum computers and present-day near-term quantum hardware. This work introduces novel metrics to analyze and predict the origins of noise in the quantum algorithm, proposes an Ansatz-based error mitigation technique, and highlights the significant impact of Pauli saving in reducing measurement costs and noise. Our hardware results using up to cc-pVTZ basis set serve as proof-of-principle for obtaining absorption spectra on quantum hardware in a general approach with the accuracy of classical multi-configurational methods. Importantly, our results exemplify that substantial improvements in hardware error rates and measurement speed are necessary to lift quantum computational chemistry from proof-of-concept to an actual impact in the field.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Divergences in classical and quantum linear response and equation of motion formulations

Calculating molecular properties using quantum devices can be done through the quantum linear response (qLR) or, equivalently, the quantum equation of motion (qEOM) formulations. Different parameterizations of qLR and qEOM are available, namely naive, projected, self-consistent, and state-transfer. In the naive and projected parameterizations, the metric is not the identity, and we show that it depends on the redundant orbital rotations. This dependency may lead to divergences in the excitation energies for certain choices of the redundant orbital rotation parameters in an idealized noise-less setting. Further, this leads to significant variance when calculations include statistical noise from finite quantum sampling.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Quantum Equation of Motion with Orbital Optimization for Computing Molecular Properties in Near-Term Quantum Computing

Determining the properties of molecules and materials is one of the premier applications of quantum computing. A major question in the field is how to use imperfect near-term quantum computers to solve problems of practical value. Inspired by the recently developed variants of the quantum counterpart of the equation-of-motion (qEOM) approach and the orbital-optimized variational quantum eigensolver (oo-VQE), we present a quantum algorithm (oo-VQE-qEOM) for the calculation of molecular properties by computing expectation values on a quantum computer. We perform noise-free quantum simulations of BeH$_2$ in the series of STO-3G/6-31G/6-31G* basis sets and of H$_4$ and H$_2$O in 6-31G using an active space of four electrons and four spatial orbitals (8 qubits) to evaluate excitation energies, electronic absorption, and, for twisted H$_4$, circular dichroism spectra. We demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can reproduce the results of conventional classical CASSCF calculations for these molecular systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Reduced density matrix formulation of quantum linear response

The prediction of spectral properties via linear response (LR) theory is an important tool in quantum chemistry for understanding photo-induced processes in molecular systems. With the advances of quantum computing, we recently adapted this method for near-term quantum hardware using a truncated active space approximation with orbital rotation, named quantum linear response (qLR). In an effort to reduce the classic cost of this hybrid approach, we here derive and implement a reduced density matrix (RDM) driven approach of qLR. This allows for the calculation of spectral properties of moderately sized molecules with much larger basis sets than so far possible. We report qLR results for benzene and $R$-methyloxirane with a cc-pVTZ basis set and study the effect of shot noise on the valence and oxygen K-edge absorption spectra of H$_2$O in the cc-pVTZ basis.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2024

Electric Field Gradient Calculations for Ice VIII and IX using Polarizable Embedding: A Comparative Study on Classical Computers and Quantum Simulators

We test the performance of the Polarizable Embedding Variational Quantum Eigensolver Self-Consistent-Field (PE-VQE-SCF) model for computing electric field gradients with comparisons to conventional complete active space self-consistent-field (CASSCF) calculations and experimental results. We compute quadrupole coupling constants for ice VIII and ice IX. We find that the inclusion of the environment is crucial for obtaining results that match the experimental data. The calculations for ice VIII are within the experimental uncertainty for both CASSCF and VQE-SCF for oxygen and lie close to the experimental value for ice IX as well. With the VQE-SCF, which is based on an Adaptive Derivative-Assembled Problem-Tailored (ADAPT) ansatz, we find that the inclusion of the environment and the size of the different basis sets do not directly affect the gate counts. However, by including an explicit environment, the wavefunction and, therefore, the optimization problem becomes more complicated, which usually results in the need to include more operators from the operator pool, thereby increasing the depth of the circuit.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

The variational quantum eigensolver self-consistent field method within a polarizable embedded framework

We formulate and implement the Variational Quantum Eigensolver Self Consistent Field (VQE-SCF) algorithm in combination with polarizable embedding (PE), thereby extending PE to the regime of quantum computing. We test the resulting algorithm, PE-VQE-SCF, on quantum simulators and demonstrate that the computational stress on the quantum device is only slightly increased in terms of gate counts compared to regular VQE-SCF. On the other hand, no increase in shot noise was observed. We illustrate how PE-VQE-SCF may lead to the modeling of real chemical systems using a simulation of the reaction barrier of the Diels-Alder reaction between furan and ethene as an example.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Subspace methods for the simulation of molecular response properties on a quantum computer

We explore Davidson methods for obtaining excitation energies and other linear response properties within quantum self-consistent linear response (q-sc-LR) theory. Davidson-type methods allow for obtaining only a few selected excitation energies without explicitly constructing the electronic Hessian since they only require the ability to perform Hessian-vector multiplications. We apply the Davidson method to calculate the excitation energies of hydrogen chains (up to H$_{10}$) and analyze aspects of statistical noise for computing excitation energies on quantum simulators. Additionally, we apply Davidson methods for computing linear response properties such as static polarizabilities for H$_2$, LiH, H$_2$O, OH$^-$, and NH$_3$, and show that unitary coupled cluster outperforms classical projected coupled cluster for molecular systems with strong correlation. Finally, we formulate the Davidson method for damped (complex) linear response, with application to the nitrogen K-edge X-ray absorption of ammonia, and the $C_6$ coefficients of H$_2$, LiH, H$_2$O, OH$^-$, and NH$_3$.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2024

X-ray Absorption Spectra for Aqueous Ammonia and Ammonium: Quantum Mechanical versus Molecular Mechanical Embedding Schemes

The X-ray absorption (XA) spectra of aqueous ammonia and ammonium are computed using a combination of coupled cluster singles and doubles (CCSD) with different quantum mechanical and molecular mechanical embedding schemes. Specifically, we compare frozen Hartree--Fock (HF) density embedding, polarizable embedding (PE), and polarizable density embedding (PDE). Integrating CCSD with frozen HF density embedding is possible within the CC-in-HF framework, which circumvents the conventional system-size limitations of standard coupled cluster methods. We reveal similarities between PDE and frozen HF density descriptions, while PE spectra differ significantly. By including approximate triple excitations, we also investigate the effect of improving the electronic structure theory. The spectra computed using this approach show an improved intensity ratio compared to CCSD-in-HF. Charge transfer analysis of the excitations shows the local character of the pre-edge and main-edge, while the post-edge is formed by excitations delocalized over the first solvation shell and beyond.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2023

Which options exist for NISQ-friendly linear response formulations?

Linear response (LR) theory is a powerful tool in classic quantum chemistry crucial to understanding photo-induced processes in chemistry and biology. However, performing simulations for large systems and in the case of strong electron correlation remains challenging. Quantum computers are poised to facilitate the simulation of such systems, and recently, a quantum linear response formulation (qLR) was introduced. To apply qLR to near-term quantum computers beyond a minimal basis set, we here introduce a resource-efficient qLR theory using a truncated active-space version of the multi-configurational self-consistent field LR ansatz. Therein, we investigate eight different near-term qLR formalisms that utilize novel operator transformations that allow the qLR equations to be performed on near-term hardware. Simulating excited state potential energy curves and absorption spectra for various test cases, we identify two promising candidates dubbed ``proj LRSD'' and ``all-proj LRSD''.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Understanding X-ray absorption in liquid water: triple excitations in multilevel coupled cluster theory

We present the first successful application of the coupled cluster approach to simulate the X-ray absorption (XA) spectrum of liquid water. The system size limitations of standard coupled cluster theory are overcome by employing a newly developed coupled cluster method for large molecular systems. This method combines coupled cluster singles, doubles, and perturbative triples in a multilevel framework (MLCC3-in-HF) and is able to describe the delicate nature of intermolecular interactions in liquid water. Using molecular geometries from state-of-the-art path-integral molecular dynamics, we obtain excellent agreement with experimental spectra. Additionally, we show that an accurate description of the electronic structure within the first solvation shell is sufficient to model the XA spectrum of liquid water. Furthermore, we present a rigorous charge transfer analysis with unprecedented reliability, achieved through MLCC3-in-HF. This analysis aligns with previous studies regarding the character of the prominent features of the spectrum.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2023

Formulation and Implementation of Frequency-Dependent Linear Response Properties with Relativistic Coupled Cluster Theory for GPU-accelerated Computer Architectures

We present the development and implementation of the relativistic coupled cluster linear response theory (CC-LR) which allows the determination of molecular properties arising from time-dependent or time-independent electric, magnetic, or mixed electric-magnetic perturbations (within a common gauge origin), and take into account the finite lifetime of excited states via damped response theory. We showcase our implementation, which is capable to offload intensive tensor contractions onto graphical processing units (GPUs), in the calculation of: \textit{(a)} frequency-(in)dependent dipole-dipole polarizabilities of IIB atoms and selected diatomic molecules, with a emphasis on the calculation of valence absorption cross-sections for the I$_2$ molecule;\textit{(b)} indirect spin-spin coupling constants for benchmark systems such as the hydrogen halides (HX, X = F-I) as well the H$_2$Se-H$_2$O dimer as a prototypical system containing hydrogen bonds; and \textit{(c)} optical rotations at the sodium D line for hydrogen peroxide analogues (H$_{2}$Y$_{2}$, Y=O, S, Se, Te). Thanks to this implementation, we are able show the similarities in performance--but often the significant discrepancies--between CC-LR and approximate methods such as density functional theory (DFT). Comparing standard CC response theory with the equation of motion formalism, we find that, for valence properties such as polarizabilities, the two frameworks yield very similar results across the periodic table as found elsewhere in the literature; for properties that probe the core region such as spin-spin couplings, we show a progressive differentiation between the two as relativistic effects become more important. Our results also suggest that as one goes down the periodic table it may become increasingly difficult to measure pure optical rotation at the sodium D line, due to the appearance of absorbing states.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2023

New Implementation of an Equation-of-Motion Coupled-Cluster Damped-Response Framework with Illustrative Applications to Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering

We present an implementation of a damped response framework for calculating resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) at the equation-of-motion coupled cluster singles and doubles (CCSD) and second-order approximate coupled cluster singles and doubles (CC2) levels of theory in the open-source program $e^T$. This framework lays the foundation for future extension to higher excitation methods (notably, the coupled cluster singles and doubles with perturbative triples, CC3) and to multilevel approaches. Our implementation adopts a fully relaxed ground state, and different variants of the core-valence separation projection technique to address convergence issues. Illustrative results are compared with those obtained within the frozen-core core-valence separated approach, available in Q-Chem, as well as with experiment. The performance of the CC2 method is evaluated in comparison with that of CCSD. It is found that, while the CC2 method is noticeably inferior to CCSD for X-ray absorption spectra, the quality of the CC2 RIXS spectra is often comparable to that of the CCSD level of theory, when the same valence excited states are probed. Finally, we present preliminary RIXS results for a solvated molecule in aqueous solution.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2022

Magnetic circular dichroism within the Algebraic Diagrammatic Construction scheme of the polarisation propagator up to third order

We present an implementation of the B term of Magnetic Circular Dichroism within the Algebraic Diagrammatic Construction (ADC) scheme of the polarization propagator and its Intermediate State Representation. As illustrative results, the MCD spectra of the ADC variants ADC(2), ADC(2)-x and ADC(3) of the molecular systems uracil, 2-thiouracil, 4-thiouracil, purine, hypoxanthine, 1,4-naphthoquinone, 9,10-anthraquinone and 1-naphthylamine, are computed and compared with results obtained using the Coupled-Cluster Singles and Approximate Doubles (CC2) method, literature TD-DFT results as well as with available experimental data.

physics.chem-ph↗