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arXiv:cond-mat/9808118 · The Journal of Chemical Physics

Ab initio quantum chemistry using the density matrix renormalization group

Steven R. White, Richard L. Martin

Published Mar 1, 1999• 557 citations
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Abstract

In this paper we describe how the density matrix renormalization group can be used for quantum chemical calculations for molecules, as an alternative to traditional methods, such as configuration interaction or coupled cluster approaches. As a demonstration of the potential of this approach, we present results for the H2O molecule in a standard gaussian basis. Results for the total energy of the system compare favorably with the best traditional quantum chemical methods.

DOI
10.1063/1.478295

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In this paper we describe how the density matrix renormalization group can be used for quantum chemical calculations for molecules, as an alternative to traditional methods, such as configuration interaction or coupled cluster approaches. As a demonstration of the potential of this approach, we present results for the H2O molecule in a standard gaussian basis. Results for the total energy of the system compare favorably with the best traditional quantum chemical methods.
A major challenge in molecular electronic structure theory arises from chemical systems where the mean-field picture based upon a single electronic configuration fails to properly describe mechanics of many electrons. Such complex electronic states should be accounted for using a correlated superposition of multiple determinants and are referred to as multireference in quantum chemistry. Application domain of traditional multireference methods is severely limited to systems containing a small number of correlated electrons because of their exponential complexity. In recent years, much attention has been drawn to the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) theory as a promising alternative. It has been introduced in ab initio quantum chemistry calculations and shown to be a highly-scalable multireference method that can handle full quantum degrees of freedom for the strongly-correlated wavefunction with unprecedented large configuration space. In this article, we provide an explicative introduction to the underlying theory and formalism built into the DMRG method and give a brief overview of our methodological extensions that combine DMRG and active-space correlation models.
We study the recently developed Density Matrix Renormalization Group (DMRG) algorithm in the context of quantum chemistry. In contrast to traditional approaches, this algorithm is believed to yield arbitrarily high accuracy in the energy with only polynomial computational effort. We describe in some detail how this is achieved. We begin by introducing the principles of the renormalization procedure, and how one formulates an algorithm for use in quantum chemistry. The renormalization group algorithm is then interpreted in terms of familiar quantum chemical concepts, and its numerical behavior, including its convergence and computational cost, are studied using both model and real systems. The asymptotic convergence of the algorithm is derived. Finally, we examine the performance of the DMRG on widely studied chemical problems, such as the water molecule, the twisting barrier of ethene, and the dissociation of nitrogen. In all cases, the results compare favorably with the best existing quantum chemical methods, and particularly so when the nondynamical correlation is strong. Some perspectives for future development are given.
An implementation of the single-site density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) approach for the quantum-chemical application to calculate approximate as well as exact electronic ground-state energies and wave functions of atoms and molecules is presented.The algorithm is formulated in terms of the variational and sizeconsistent class of wave functions, matrix product states, and their operator analogues, matrix product operators.A procedure to construct quantum-chemical Hamiltonian operators with long-range Coulomb interactions as matrix product operators is developed.The many-electron Hamiltonian operators are represented as sums and products of one-electron operators.For the efficient matrix product operator construction of quantum-chemical Hamiltonians, different basis spaces including discrete position and momentum space as well as molecular and atomic orbitals are investigated.Discrete position space yields the best matrix product operator size scaling, but introduces artificial long-range couplings in the kinetic energy term of the Hamiltonian which are a consequence of the DMRG algorithm in terms of matrix product states.The huge amount of discrete space points needed for an accurate description poses a problem because of the electron-electron interaction.Therefore, a momentum space or Fourier series expansion of the electron-electron interaction is shown which makes it possible to compress its matrix product operator representation.DMRG applied to quantum-chemical Hamiltonians in matrix product operator form can serve as means to directly (without mean-field treatment in advance) investigate quantum-chemical problems and find the analytically exact ground-state solution of small atoms and molecules.The next basis space analyzed in detail is the atomic orbital basis.The matrix product operator construction and the direct application of the DMRG method in this basis is examined.A physical compression scheme based on a singular value decomposition of the electron-electron interaction in the atomic orbital basis is demonstrated.Furthermore, DMRG calculations in the atomic orbital basis for certain systems where mean-field theory yields qualitatively wrong results and where higher-order approximative correction methods like truncated configuration interaction and coupled cluster cannot fully capture strong electron correlation effects are compared to results obtained in the molecular orbital basis.The comparison shows that atomic orbitals describe the physical situation well and thus lead to a tremendous reduction of the matrix product state dimension and the computational effort.i
The ab-initio density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) is a tool that can be applied to a wide variety of interesting problems in quantum chemistry. Here, we examine the density matrix renormalization group from the vantage point of the quantum chemistry user. What kinds of problems is the DMRG well-suited to? What are the largest systems that can be treated at practical cost? What sort of accuracies can be obtained, and how do we reason about the computational difficulty in different molecules? By examining a diverse benchmark set of molecules: π-electron systems, benchmark main-group and transition metal dimers, and the Mn-oxo-salen and Fe-porphine organometallic compounds, we provide some answers to these questions, and show how the density matrix renormalization group is used in practice.