Accurate first-derivative nonadiabatic couplings for the H3 system

A conical intersection exists between the ground (1 2 A[prime]) and the first-excited (2 2A[prime]) electronic potential energy surfaces (PESs) of the H3 system for C3v geometries. This intersection induces a geometric phase effect, an important factor in accurate quantum mechanical reactive scattering calculations, which at low energies can be performed using the ground PES only, together with appropriate nuclear motion boundary conditions. At higher energies, however, such calculations require the inclusion of both the 1 2A[prime] and 2 2A[prime] electronic PESs and the corresponding nuclear derivative couplings. Here we present ab initio first-derivative couplings for these states obtained by analytic gradient techniques and a fit to these results. We also present a fit to the corresponding 1 2A[prime] and 2 2A[prime] adiabatic electronic PESs, obtained from the ab initio electronic energies. The first-derivative couplings are compared with their approximate analytical counterparts obtained by Varandas et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 86, 6258 (1987)] using the double many-body expansion method. As expected, the latter are accurate close to conical intersection configurations but not elsewhere. We also present the contour integrals of the ab initio couplings along closed loops around the above-mentioned conical intersection, which contain information about possible interactions between the 2 2A[prime] and 3 2A[prime] states

On the Structure and Stability of Geometrical Isomers of N3F

The potential energy surfaces for the N3F molecule have been studied using multiconfigurational wave functions. Two new isomers were found, one on the singlet (1 A′) and one on the triplet (3 A″) surface. Both isomers have a three‐membered cyclic structure and C ssymmetry. The singlet cyclic isomer is endoergic relative to the open fluorine azide by 15–17 kcal/mol. Its kinetic stability is close to the stability of the open isomer: the barrier separating the cyclic isomer from the dissociation products N2(X  1Σ+ g )+NF(a  1Δ) is about 13–17 kcal/mol and is lower than the barrier to isomerization. The triplet cyclic isomer is much higher in energy (about 70 kcal/mol), with a barrier to dissociation to N2(X  1Σ+ g )+NF(X  3Σ−) on the order of 15 kcal/mol. Crossings of the 1 A′ and the 3 A″ surfaces may allow the cyclic singlet isomer to predissociate to the ground state products, N2(X  1Σ+ g )+NF(X  3Σ−). It is shown, however, that the singlet–triplet surface of intersection lies ‘behind’ the barrier to singlet decomposition, so that spin‐forbidden predissociation will not preclude detection of cyclic N3F

The generality of the GUGA MRCI approach in COLUMBUS for treating complex quantum chemistry

The core part of the program system COLUMBUS allows highly efficient calculations using variational multireference (MR) methods in the framework of configuration interaction with single and double excitations (MR-CISD) and averaged quadratic coupled-cluster calculations (MR-AQCC), based on uncontracted sets of configurations and the graphical unitary group approach (GUGA). The availability of analytic MR-CISD and MR-AQCC energy gradients and analytic nonadiabatic couplings for MR-CISD enables exciting applications including, e.g., investigations of π-conjugated biradicaloid compounds, calculations of multitudes of excited states, development of diabatization procedures, and furnishing the electronic structure information for on-the-fly surface nonadiabatic dynamics. With fully variational uncontracted spin-orbit MRCI, COLUMBUS provides a unique possibility of performing high-level calculations on compounds containing heavy atoms up to lanthanides and actinides. Crucial for carrying out all of these calculations effectively is the availability of an efficient parallel code for the CI step. Configuration spaces of several billion in size now can be treated quite routinely on standard parallel computer clusters. Emerging developments in COLUMBUS, including the all configuration mean energy multiconfiguration self-consistent field method and the graphically contracted function method, promise to allow practically unlimited configuration space dimensions. Spin density based on the GUGA approach, analytic spin-orbit energy gradients, possibilities for local electron correlation MR calculations, development of general interfaces for nonadiabatic dynamics, and MRCI linear vibronic coupling models conclude this overview

The OpenMolcas Web: A Community-Driven Approach to Advancing Computational Chemistry

The developments of the open-source OpenMolcas chemistry software environment since spring 2020 are described, with a focus on novel functionalities accessible in the stable branch of the package or via interfaces with other packages. These developments span a wide range of topics in computational chemistry and are presented in thematic sections: electronic structure theory, electronic spectroscopy simulations, analytic gradients and molecular structure optimizations, ab initio molecular dynamics, and other new features. This report offers an overview of the chemical phenomena and processes OpenMolcas can address, while showing that OpenMolcas is an attractive platform for state-of-the-art atomistic computer simulations