Electron correlation effects in diamond: a wave-function quantum chemistry study of the quasiparticle band structure

The quasiparticle bands of diamond, a prototype covalent insulator, are herein studied by means of wave-function electronic-structure theory, with emphasis on the nature of the correlation hole around a bare particle. Short-range correlations are in such a system conveniently described by using a real-space representation and many-body techniques from {\it ab initio} quantum chemistry. To account for long-range polarization effects, on the other hand, we adopt the approximation of a dielectric continuum. Having as "uncorrelated" reference the Hartree-Fock band structure, the post-Hartree-Fock treatment is carried out in terms of localized Wannier functions derived from the Hartree-Fock solution. The computed correlation-induced corrections to the relevant real-space matrix elements are important and give rise to a strong reduction, in the range of $50\%$, of the initial Hartree-Fock gap. While our final results for the indirect and direct gaps, 5.4 and 6.9 eV, respectively, compare very well with the experimental data, the width of the valence band comes out by $10$ to $15\%$ too large as compared to experiment. This overestimation of the valence-band width appears to be related to size-consistency effects in the configuration-interaction correlation treatment.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, accepted at Phys. Rev. B (2014

An optimized full-configuration-interaction nuclear orbital approach to a “hard-core” interaction problem: Application to (3He)N–Cl2(B) clusters (N<4)

13 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, 3 appendix.An efficient full-configuration-interaction nuclear orbital treatment has been recently developed as a benchmark quantum-chemistry-like method to calculate ground and excited “solvent” energies and wave functions in small doped AEest clusters (N<4) [M. P. de Lara-Castells, G. Delgado-Barrio, P. Villarreal, and A. O. Mitrushchenkov, J. Chem. Phys. 125, 221101 (2006)]. Additional methodological and computational details of the implementation, which uses an iterative Jacobi–Davidson diagonalization algorithm to properly address the inherent “hard-core” He–He interaction problem, are described here. The convergence of total energies, average pair He–He interaction energies, and relevant one- and two-body properties upon increasing the angular part of the one-particle basis set (expanded in spherical harmonics) has been analyzed, considering Cl2 as the dopant and a semiempirical model (T-shaped) He–Cl2(B) potential. Converged results are used to analyze global energetic and structural aspects as well as the configuration makeup of the wave functions, associated with the ground and low-lying “solvent” excited states. Our study reveals that besides the fermionic nature of 3He atoms, key roles in determining total binding energies and wave-function structures are played by the strong repulsive core of the He–He potential as well as its very weak attractive region, the most stable arrangement somehow departing from the one of N He atoms equally spaced on equatorial “ring” around the dopant. The present results for N=4 fermions indicates the structural “pairing” of two 3He atoms at opposite sides on a broad “belt” around the dopant, executing a sort of asymmetric umbrella motion. This pairing is a compromise between maximizing the 3He–3He and the He-dopant attractions, and suppressing at the same time the “hard-core” repulsion. Although the He–He attractive interaction is rather weak, its contribution to the total energy is found to scale as a power of three and it thus increasingly affects the pair density distributions as the cluster grows in size.This work has been partially supported by the CSICCAM, CICYT, and MICINN-CSIC Spanish Grants Nos. CCG08-CSIC/ESP-3680, FIS2007-62006, and 2007501004.Peer reviewe

Physisorption of helium on a TiO2(110) surface: periodic and finite clusters approaches

Workshop CMST Action CM1200 CODECS: Holistic Computational Spectroscopy, 16-18 November 2011, Pisa, Italy. http://codecs.sns.it/index.php/Holistic_Computational_SpectroscopyAs a proto-typical case of physisorption on an extended transition-metal oxide surface, the interaction of a helium atom with a TiO2(110) surface is studied here by using finite cluster and periodic approaches and both wavefunction-based (post Hartree-Fock) quantum chemistry methods, as well as density functional theory. The finite cluster approach is applied to provide reference results at coupled-cluster and perturbative second-order Möller-Plesset levels of theory. It is shown that once the basis set is specifically tailored to minimize the basis set superposition error, periodic calculations using the Perdew Burke-Ernzerhof functional yield short and medium-range interaction potentials in very reasonable agreement with those obtained using the correlated wave-function-based methods, while small long-range dispersion corrections are necessary to reproduce the correct asymptotic behavior. This study is aimed at the simulation of helium droplet-mediated deposition of metallic clusters on oxide surfaces.Peer Reviewe

Helium mediated deposition: Modeling the He−TiO2(110)-(1×1) interaction potential and application to the collision of a helium droplet from density functional calculations

This paper is the first of a two-part series dealing with quantum-mechanical (density-functional-based) studies of helium-mediated deposition of catalytic species on the rutile TiO2(110)-(1×1) surface. The interaction of helium with the TiO2(110)-(1×1) surface is first evaluated using the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof functional at a numerical grid dense enough to build an analytical three-dimensional potential energy surface. Three (two prototype) potential models for the He-surface interaction in helium scattering calculations are analyzed to build the analytical potential energy surface: (1) the hard-corrugated-wall potential model; (2) the corrugated-Morse potential model; and (3) the three-dimensional Morse potential model. Different model potentials are then used to study the dynamics upon collision of a 4He300 cluster with the TiO2(110) surface at zero temperature within the framework of a time-dependent density-functional approach for the quantum fluid [D. Mateo, D. Jin, M. Barranco, and M. Pi, J. Chem. Phys. 134, 044507 (2011)] and classical dynamics calculations. The laterally averaged density functional theory-based potential with an added long-range dispersion interaction term is further applied. At variance with classical dynamics calculations, showing helium droplet splashing out of the surface at impact, the time evolution of the macroscopic helium wave-function predicts that the helium droplet spreads on the rutile surface and leads to the formation of a thin film above the substrate. This work thus provides a basis for simulating helium mediated deposition of metallic clusters embedded within helium nanodroplets

Orbital breathing effects in the computation of x-ray d-ion spectra in solids by ab initio wave-function-based methods

In existing theoretical approaches to core-level excitations of transition-metal ions in solids relaxation and polarization effects due to the inner core hole are often ignored or described phenomenologically. Here we set up an ab initio computational scheme that explicitly accounts for such physics in the calculation of x-ray absorption and resonant inelastic x-ray scattering spectra. Good agreement is found with experimental transition-metal $L$-edge data for the strongly correlated $d^9$ cuprate Li$_2$CuO$_2$, for which we determine the absolute scattering intensities. The newly developed methodology opens the way for the investigation of even more complex $d^n$ electronic structures of group VI B to VIII B correlated oxide compounds

A Combined Periodic Density Functional and Incremental Wave-Function-Based Approach for the Dipersion-Accounting Time-Resolved Dynamics of 4He Nanodroplets on Surfaces: 4He/Graphene

Helium-mediated Synthesis, Soft-landing and Spectroscopy of Metal Nanoparticles on Surfaces,CSIC, Madrid, Spain, October 10-11, 2014A general strategy to calculate accurate He-surface interaction potentials is proposed [1]. It extends the dispersionless density functional (dlDF) approach by Pernal et al. [2] to adsorbatesurface interactions by including periodic boundary conditions [1b]. A scheme to parametrize the dispersion interaction is introducced by calculating two- and three-body dispersion terms at CCSD(T) level via the method of increments [3]. The performance of the composite approach is tested on the low-lying selective adsorption states of 4He/graphene [5]. Second, its capability to describe dispersionless correlation effects realistically is used to extract dispersion effects in time-dependent density functional simulations on the collision of 4He droplets with graphene [1b]. Dispersion effects play a key role in the fast spreading of the 4He nanodroplet [1b,6], the evaporation-like process of helium atoms, and the formation of solid-like helium structures. These characteristics are expected to be quite general and highly relevant to explain experimental measurements with the newly developed helium droplet mediated deposition technique [7].Peer Reviewe

ExoMol line lists -- LI. Molecular line list for lithium hydroxide (LiOH)

A new molecular line list for lithium hydroxide ($^{7}$Li$^{16}$O$^{1}$H) covering wavelengths $\lambda > 1 \mu$m (the 0-10000 cm$^{-1}$ range) is presented. The OYT7 line list contains over 331 million transitions between rotation-vibration energy levels with total angular momentum up to $J=95$ and is applicable for temperatures up to $T\approx 3500$ K. Line list calculations are based on a previously published, high-level \textit{ab initio} potential energy surface and a newly computed dipole moment surface of the ground \tilde{X}\,^1\Sigma^+ electronic state. Lithium-containing molecules are important in a variety of stellar objects and there is potential for LiOH to be observed in the atmospheres of exoplanets. This work provides the first, comprehensive line list of LiOH and will facilitate its future molecular detection. The OYT7 line list along with the associated temperature- and pressure-dependent opacities can be downloaded from the ExoMol database at www.exomol.com and the CDS astronomical database

Stability and Reversible Oxidation of Sub-Nanometric Cu5 Metal Clusters: Integrated Experimental Study and Theoretical Modeling

12 pags., 6 figs.Sub-nanometer Metal clusters have special physical and chemical properties, significantly different from those of nanoparticles. However, there is a major concern about their thermal stability and susceptibility to oxidation. In situ X-ray Absorption spectroscopy and Near Ambient Pressure X-ray Photoelectron spectroscopy results reveal that supported Cu5 clusters are resistant to irreversible oxidation at least up to 773 K, even in the presence of 0.15 mbar of oxygen. These experimental findings can be formally described by a theoretical model which combines dispersion-corrected DFT and first principles thermochemistry revealing that most of the adsorbed O2 molecules are transformed into superoxo and peroxo species by an interplay of collective charge transfer within the network of Cu atoms and large amplitude "breathing" motions. A chemical phase diagram for Cu oxidation state of the Cu5-oxygen system is presented, clearly different from the already known bulk and nano-structured chemistry of Cu.This work has been partly supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (TED2021-131899BI00/MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ Unión Europea NextGenerationEU/PRTR), and the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER, UE) under Grants Nos, PID2019-107115GBC21, and PID2020-117605GB-I00; the EU Doctoral Network PHYMOL 101073474 (project call reference HORIZON-MSCA2021-DN-01); the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) under Grant P29893-N36; XUNTA DE GALICIA (Spain) (Grupos Ref. Comp. 2021 - ED431C 2021/16); ANPCyT PICT (2017-1220 and 2017- 3944) and UNLP (Project 11/X937), Argentina. This publication is also based upon work of COST Action CA21101 "Confined molecular systems: from a new generation of materials to the stars" (COSY) supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).Peer reviewe

Assessing the Performance of Dispersionless and Dispersion-Accounting Methods: He/TiO2(110)

Helium-mediated Synthesis, Soft-Landing and Spectroscopy of Metal Nanoparticles on Surfaces, CSIC. Madrid, 10-11 de Octubre de 2014.As a prototypical dispersion-dominated physisorption problem, we analyze the performance of dispersionless and dispersion-accounting methodologies on the helium interaction with cluster models of the TiO2(110) surface [1]. A special focus is given to the dispersionless density functional dlDF and the dlDF+Das construction for the total interaction energy [2], where Das is an effective interatomic pairwise functional form for the dispersion. Likewise, the performance of symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (SAPT) is evaluated, where the interacting monomers are described by density functional theory (DFT) with the dlDF, PBE, and PBE0 functionals. Moreover, intra- and intermonomer correlation contributions to the physisorption interaction are analyzed through the method of increments [3] at the CCSD(T) level of theory. This method is further applied in conjunction with a partitioning of the Hartree¿Fock interaction energy to estimate individual interaction energy components, comparing them with those obtained using the different SAPT(DFT) approaches. The cluster size evolution of dispersionless and dispersion accounting energy components reveals the reduced role of the dispersionless interaction and intramonomer correlation when the extended nature of the surface is better accounted for. On the contrary, both post-Hartree¿Fock and SAPT(DFT) results clearly demonstrate the hightransferability character of the effective pairwise dispersion interaction whatever the cluster model is. Our contribution also illustrates how the method of increments can be used as a valuable tool not only to achieve the accuracy of CCSD(T) calculations using large cluster models but also to evaluate the performance of SAPT(DFT) methods for the physically well defined contributions to the total interaction energy. Overall, our work indicates the excellent performance of a dlDF+Das approach in which the parameters are optimized using the smallest cluster model of the target surface to treat van der Waals adsorbate¿surface interactions. Very recently, this treatment has been improved through a periodic dlDF+incremental Das approach [4].Peer Reviewe