arXiv subjects

Wenjian Liu

Publications and source records attributed to Wenjian Liu.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2024

Response to "Response to 'Comment on Theoretical examination of QED Hamiltonian in relativistic molecular orbital theory'" [J. Chem. Phys. 160, 187102 (2024)]

The Response [J. Chem. Phys. 160, 187102 (2024)] of Inoue and coworkers to my Comment [J. Chem. Phys. 160, 187101 (2024)] on their original paper [J. Chem. Phys. 159, 054105 (2023)] clarifies some points put forward in my Comment, but also raises some new issues that require further clarifications. It is believed that the present Response has settled down everything.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2024

Studies on Topological High-fold Degenerate Semimetal with Chiral Structure

In recent years, a type of topological semimetals (TSMs) that can host new fermions with high-fold degeneracy has attracted considerable interest. Among them, ones with chiral structrue particularly catch our attention. Such chiral high-fold degenerate semimetals always have a larger topological charge and longer Fermi arcs which bringing about some special properties. In this work, we found 147 chiral materials with exotic fermions near Fermi level by high-throughput calculation and screening. We selected some typical examples to analyse its topological properties such as topological surface states (TSSs) and Berry curvature. Our results are helpful to provide a promising platform for exploring the physical properties of chiral fermions and application of chiral TSMs.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Kinetic network in Milestoning: Clustering, reduction, and transition path analysis

We present a reduction of Milestoning (ReM) algorithm to analyze the high-dimensional Milestoning kinetic network. The algorithm reduces the Milestoning network to low dimensions but preserves essential kinetic information, such as local residence time, exit time, and mean first passage time between any two states. This is achieved in three steps. First, nodes (milestones) in the high-dimensional Milestoning network are grouped into clusters based on the metastability identified by an auxiliary continuous-time Markov chain. Our clustering method is applicable not only to time-reversible networks but also to non-reversible networks generated from practical simulations with statistical fluctuations. Second, a reduced network is established via network transformation, containing only the core sets of clusters as nodes. Finally, transition pathways are analyzed in the reduced network based on the transition path theory. The algorithm is illustrated using a toy model and a solvated alanine dipeptide in two and four dihedral angles.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2023

Unified construction of relativistic Hamiltonians

It is shown that four-component (4C), quasi-four-component (Q4C), and exact two-component (X2C) relativistic Hartree-Fock (HF) equations can be implemented in an unified manner, by making use of the atomic nature of the small components of molecular 4-spinors. A model density matrix approximation can first be invoked for the small-component charge/current density functions, which gives rise to a static, pre-molecular mean field (pmf) to be combined with the one-electron term. As a result, only the nonrelativistic-like two-electron term of the 4C/Q4C/X2C Fock matrix needs to be updated during the iterations. A `one-center small-component' approximation can then be invoked in the evaluation of relativistic integrals. That is, all atom-centered small-component basis functions are regarded as extremely localized nearby the position of the atom to which they belong, such that they have vanishing overlaps with all small- or large-component functions centered at other nuclei. Under these approximations, the 4C, Q4C, and X2C mean-field and many-electron Hamiltonians share precisely the same structure and accuracy. Beyond these is the effective quantum electrodynamics Hamiltonian that can be constructed in the same way. Such approximations lead to errors that are orders of magnitude smaller than other sources of errors (e.g., truncation errors in the one- and many-particle bases as well as uncertainties of experimental measurements) and are hence safe to use for whatever purposes. The quaternion forms of the 4C, Q4C, and X2C equations are also presented in the most general way, based on which the corresponding Kramers-restricted open-shell (RKOHF) variants are formulated for `high-spin' open-shell systems.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2023

On Committor Functions in Milestoning

As an optimal one-dimensional reaction coordinate, the committor function not only describes the probability of a trajectory initiated at a phase space point first reaching the product state before reaching the reactant state, but also preserves the kinetics when utilized to run a reduced dynamics model. However, calculating the committor function in high-dimensional systems poses significant challenges. In this paper, within the framework of Milestoning, exact expressions for committor functions at two levels of coarse graining are given, including committor functions of phase space point to point (CFPP) and milestone to milestone (CFMM). When combined with transition kernels obtained from trajectory analysis, these expressions can be utilized to accurately and efficiently compute the committor functions. Furthermore, based on the calculated committor functions, an adaptive algorithm is developed to gradually refine the transition state region. Finally, two model examples are employed to assess the accuracy of these different formulations of committor functions.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2023

Approximating First Hitting Point Distribution in Milestoning for Rare Event Kinetics

Milestoning is an efficient method for rare event kinetics calculation using short trajectory parallelization. Mean first passage time (MFPT) is the key kinetic output of Milestoning, whose accuracy crucially depends the initial distribution of the short trajectory ensemble. The true initial distribution, i.e., first hitting point distribution (FHPD), has no analytic expression in the general case. Here, we introduce two algorithms, local passage time weighted Milestoning (LPT-M) and Bayesian inference Milestoning (BI-M), to accurately and efficiently approximate FHPD for systems at equilibrium condition. Starting from sampling Boltzmann distribution on milestones, we calculate the proper weighting factor for the short trajectory ensemble. The methods are tested on two model examples for illustration purpose. Both methods improve significantly over the widely used classical Milestoning method in terms of the accuracy of MFPT. In particular, BI-M covers the directional Milestoning method as a special case in the deterministic Hamiltonian dynamics. LPT-M is especially advantageous in terms of computational costs and robustness with respect to the increasing number of intermediate milestones. Furthermore, a locally iterative correction algorithm for non-equilibrium stationary FHPD is developed for exact MFPT calculation, which can be combined with LPT-M/BI-M and is much cheaper than the exact Milestoning method.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2023

SOiCISCF: Combining SOiCI and iCISCF for Variational Treatment of Spin-orbit Coupling

It has recently been shown that the SOiCI approach [J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 34 (2022) 224007], in conjunction with the spin-separated exact two-component relativistic Hamiltonian, can provide very accurate fine structures of systems containing heavy elements by treating electron correlation and spin-orbit coupling (SOC) on an equal footing. Nonetheless, orbital relaxations/polarizations induced by SOC are not yet fully accounted for, due to the use of scalar relativistic orbitals. This issue can be resolved by further optimizing the still real-valued orbitals self-consistently in the presence of SOC, as done in the spin-orbit coupled CASSCF approach [J. Chem. Phys. 138 (2013) 104113] but with the iCISCF algorithm [J. Chem. Theory Comput. 17 (2021) 7545] for large active spaces. The resulting SOiCISCF employs both double group and time reversal symmetries for computational efficiency and assignment of target states. The fine structures of $p$-block elements are taken as showcases to reveal the efficacy of SOiCISCF.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2023

When do tripdoublet states fluoresce? A theoretical study of copper(II) porphyrin

Open-shell molecules rarely fluoresce, due to their typically faster non-radiative relaxation rates compared to closed-shell ones. Even rarer is the fluorescence from states that have two more unpaired electrons than the open-shell ground state, for example tripdoublet states (a triplet excitation antiferromagnetically coupled to a doublet state). The description of the latter states by U-TDDFT is notoriously inaccurate due to large spin contamination. In this work, we applied our spin-adapted TDDFT method, X-TDDFT, and the static-dynamic-static second order perturbation theory (SDSPT2), to the study of the excited states as well as their relaxation pathways of copper(II) porphyrin; previous experimental works suggested that the photoluminescence of some substituted copper(II) porphyrins originate from a tripdoublet state, formed by a triplet ligand $π\toπ^*$ excitation. Our results demonstrated favorable agreement between the X-TDDFT, SDSPT2 and experimental excitation energies, and revealed noticeable improvements of X-TDDFT compared to U-TDDFT, suggesting that X-TDDFT is a reliable tool for the study of tripdoublet fluorescence. Intriguingly, the aforementioned tripdoublet state is the lowest doublet excited state and lies only slightly higher than the lowest quartet state, which explains why the tripdoublet of copper(II) porphyrin is long-lived enough to fluoresce; an explanation for this unusual state ordering is given. Indeed, thermal vibration correlation function (TVCF)-based calculations of internal conversion, intersystem crossing, and radiative transition rates confirm that copper(II) porphyrin emits thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) and a small amount of phosphorescence at low temperature (83 K), in accordance with experiment. The present contribution is concluded by a few possible approaches of designing new molecules that fluoresce from tripdoublet states.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2022

GANDSE: Generative Adversarial Network based Design Space Exploration for Neural Network Accelerator Design

With the popularity of deep learning, the hardware implementation platform of deep learning has received increasing interest. Unlike the general purpose devices, e.g., CPU, or GPU, where the deep learning algorithms are executed at the software level, neural network hardware accelerators directly execute the algorithms to achieve higher both energy efficiency and performance improvements. However, as the deep learning algorithms evolve frequently, the engineering effort and cost of designing the hardware accelerators are greatly increased. To improve the design quality while saving the cost, design automation for neural network accelerators was proposed, where design space exploration algorithms are used to automatically search the optimized accelerator design within a design space. Nevertheless, the increasing complexity of the neural network accelerators brings the increasing dimensions to the design space. As a result, the previous design space exploration algorithms are no longer effective enough to find an optimized design. In this work, we propose a neural network accelerator design automation framework named GANDSE, where we rethink the problem of design space exploration, and propose a novel approach based on the generative adversarial network (GAN) to support an optimized exploration for high dimension large design space. The experiments show that GANDSE is able to find the more optimized designs in negligible time compared with approaches including multilayer perceptron and deep reinforcement learning.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2022

Perspective: "Relativity + Correlation + QED = Experiment''

The ultimate goal of electronic structure calculations is to make the left and right hand sides of the titled ``equation'' as close as possible. This requires high-precision treatment of relativistic, correlation, and quantum electrodynamics (QED) effects simultaneously. While both relativistic and QED effects can readily be built into the many-electron Hamiltonian, electron correlation is more difficult to describe due to the exponential growth of the number of parameters in the wave function. Compared with the spin-free case, spin-orbit interaction results in the loss of spin symmetry and concomitant complex algebra, thereby rendering the treatment of electron correlation even more difficult. Possible solutions to these issues are highlighted here.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2022

Self-Adaptive Real-Time Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory for X-ray Absorptions

Real-time time-dependent density functional theory (RT-TDDFT) can in principle access the whole absorption spectrum of a many-electron system exposed to a narrow pulse. However, this requires an accurate and efficient propagator for the numerical integration of the time-dependent Kohn-Sham equation. While a low-order time propagator is already sufficient for the low-lying valence absorption spectra, it is no longer the case for the X-ray absorption spectra (XAS) of systems composed even only of light elements, for which the use of a high-order propagator is indispensable. It is then crucial to choose a largest possible time step and a shortest possible simulation time, so as to minimize the computational cost. To this end, we propose here a robust AutoPST approach to determine automatically (Auto) the propagator (P), step (S), and time (T) for relativistic RT-TDDFT simulations of XAS.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2022

SOiCI and iCISO: Combining iterative configuration interaction with spin-orbit coupling in two ways

The near-exact iCIPT2 approach for strongly correlated systems of electrons, which stems from the combination of iterative configuration interaction (iCI, an exact solver of full CI) with configuration selection for static correlation and second-order perturbation theory (PT2) for dynamic correlation, is extended to the relativistic domain. In the spirit of spin separation, relativistic effects are treated in two steps: scalar relativity is treated by the infinite-order, spin-free part of the exact two-component (X2C) relativistic Hamiltonian, whereas spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is treated by the first-order, Douglas-Kroll-Hess-like SOC operator derived from the same X2C Hamiltonian. Two possible combinations of iCIPT2 with SOC are considered, i.e., SOiCI and iCISO. The former treats SOC and electron correlation on an equal footing, whereas the latter treats SOC in the spirit of state interaction, by constructing and diagonalizing an effective spin-orbit Hamiltonian matrix in a small number of correlated scalar states. Both double group and time reversal symmetries are incorporated to simplify the computation. Pilot applications reveal that SOiCI is very accurate for the spin-orbit splitting (SOS) of heavy atoms, whereas the computationally very cheap iCISO can safely be applied to the SOS of light atoms and even of systems containing heavy atoms when SOC is largely quenched by ligand fields.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2021

iCISCF: An Iterative Configuration Interaction-based Multiconfigurational Self-consistent Field Theory for Large Active Spaces

An iterative configuration interaction (iCI)-based multiconfigurational self-consistent field (SCF) theory, iCISCF, is proposed to handle systems that require large complete active spaces (CAS). The success of iCISCF stems from three ingredients: (1) efficient selection of individual configuration state functions spanning the CAS, meanwhile maintaining full spin symmetry; (2) the use of Jacobi rotation for the optimization of active orbitals, in conjunction with a quasi-Newton algorithm for the core/active-virtual and core-active orbital rotations; (3) a second-order perturbative treatment of the residual space left over by the selection procedure (i.e., iCISCF(2)). Just like selected iCI being a very accurate approximation to CASCI, iCISCF(2) is a very accurate approximation to CASSCF. Several examples that go beyond the capability of CASSCF are taken as showcases to reveal the performances of iCISCF and iCISCF(2).

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2021

NAC-TDDFT: Time-dependent density functional theory for nonadiabatic couplings

First-order nonadiabatic coupling matrix elements (fo-NACMEs) are the basic quantities in theoretical descriptions of electronically nonadiabatic processes that are ubiquitous in molecular physics and chemistry. Given the large size of systems of chemical interests, time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) is usually the first choice. However, the lack of wave functions in TDDFT renders the formulation of NAC-TDDFT for fo-NACMEs conceptually difficult. The present account aims to analyze the available variants of NAC-TDDFT in a critical but concise manner and meanwhile point out the proper ways for implementation. It can be concluded, from both theoretical and numerical points of view, that the equation of motion-based variant of NAC-TDDFT is the right choice. Possible future developments of this variant are also highlighted.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2021

$\mathbb{i}$CAS: Imposed Automatic Selection and Localization of Complete Active Spaces

It is shown that a prechosen set of occupied/virtual valence/core atomic/fragmental orbitals can be transformed to an equivalent set of localized occupied/virtual pre-molecular orbitals (pre-LMO), which can then be taken as probes to select the same number of maximally matching localized occupied/virtual Hartree-Fock (HF) or restricted open-shell Hartree-Fock (ROHF) molecular orbitals as the initial local orbitals spanning the desired complete active space (CAS). In each cycle of the self-consistent field (SCF) calculation, the CASSCF orbitals can be localized by means of the noniterative ``top-down least-change'' algorithm for localizing ROHF orbitals, such that the maximum matching between the orbitals of two adjacent iterations can readily be monitored, leading finally to converged localized CASSCF orbitals that overlap most the guess orbitals. Such an approach is to be dubbed as ``imposed CASSCF'' ($\mathbb{i}$CASSCF or simply $\mathbb{i}$CAS in short) for good reasons: (1) it has been assumed that only those electronic states that have largest projections onto the active space defined by the prechosen atomic/fragmental orbitals are to be targeted. This is certainly an imposed constraint but has wide applications in organic and transition metal chemistry where valence (or core) atomic/fragmental orbitals can readily be identified. (2) The selection of both initial and optimized local active orbitals is imposed from the very beginning by the pre-LMOs (which span the same space as the prechosen atomic/fragmental orbitals). Apart from the (imposed) automation and localization, $\mathbb{i}$CAS has an additional merit: the CAS is guaranteed to be the same for all geometries for the pre-LMOs do not change in character with geometry. Both organic molecules and transition metal complexes are taken as showcases to reveal the efficacy of $\mathbb{i}$CAS.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2021

iOI: an Iterative Orbital Interaction Approach for Solving the Self-Consistent Field Problem

An iterative orbital interaction (iOI) approach is proposed to solve, in a bottom-up fashion, the self-consistent field problem in quantum chemistry. While it belongs grossly to the family of fragment-based quantum chemical methods, iOI is distinctive in that (1) it divides and conquers not only the energy but also the wave function, and that (2) the subsystems sizes are automatically determined by successively merging neighboring small subsystems until they are just enough for converging the wave function to a given accuracy. Orthonormal occupied and virtual localized molecular orbitals are obtained in a natural manner, which can be used for all post-SCF purposes.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2020

Further Development of iCIPT2 for Strongly Correlated Electrons

The efficiency of the recently proposed iCIPT2 [iterative configuration interaction (iCI) with selection and second-order perturbation theory (PT2); J. Chem. Theory Comput. 16, 2296 (2020)] for strongly correlated electrons is further enhanced (by up to 20x) by using (1) a new ranking criterion for configuration selection, (2) a new particle-hole algorithm for Hamiltonian construction over randomly selected configuration state functions (CSF), and (3) a new data structure for the quick sorting of the joint variational and first-order interaction spaces. Meanwhile, the memory requirement is also reduced greatly. As a result, this improved implementation of iCIPT2 can handle one order of magnitude more CSFs than the previous version, as revealed by taking the chromium dimer and an iron-sulfur cluster, [2Fe-2S], as examples.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2020

The Ground State Electronic Energy of Benzene

We report on the findings of a blind challenge devoted to determining the frozen-core, full configuration interaction (FCI) ground state energy of the benzene molecule in a standard correlation-consistent basis set of double-$ζ$ quality. As a broad international endeavour, our suite of wave function-based correlation methods collectively represents a diverse view of the high-accuracy repertoire offered by modern electronic structure theory. In our assessment, the evaluated high-level methods are all found to qualitatively agree on a final correlation energy, with most methods yielding an estimate of the FCI value around $-863$ m$E_{\text{H}}$. However, we find the root-mean-square deviation of the energies from the studied methods to be considerable (1.3 m$E_{\text{H}}$), which in light of the acclaimed performance of each of the methods for smaller molecular systems clearly displays the challenges faced in extending reliable, near-exact correlation methods to larger systems. While the discrepancies exposed by our study thus emphasize the fact that the current state-of-the-art approaches leave room for improvement, we still expect the present assessment to provide a valuable community resource for benchmark and calibration purposes going forward.

physics.chem-ph↗