Susi Lehtola

University of Helsinki | HY · Department of Chemistry

The traditional foundation of science lies on the cornerstones of theory and experiment. Theory is used to explain experiment, which in turn guides the development of theory. Since the advent of computers and the development of computational algorithms, computation has risen as the third cornerstone of science, joining theory and experiment on an e...

The resolution‐of‐the‐identity (RI) or density fitting (DF) approximation for the electron repulsion integrals (ERIs) has become a standard component of accelerated and reduced‐scaling implementations of first‐principles Gaussian‐type orbital electronic‐structure methods. The Cholesky decomposition (CD) of the ERIs has also become increasingly depl...

Density functional theory is the workhorse of chemistry and materials science, and novel density functional approximations are published every year. To become available in program packages, the novel density functional approximations (DFAs) need to be (re)implemented. However, according to our experience as developers of Libxc [Lehtola et al., Soft...

The traditional foundation of science lies on the cornerstones of theory and experiment. Theory is used to explain experiment, which in turn guides the development of theory. Since the advent of computers and the development of computational algorithms, computation has risen as the third cornerstone of science, joining theory and experiment on an e...

We have recently discussed an algorithm to automatically generate auxiliary basis sets (ABSs) of the standard form for density fitting (DF) or resolution-of-the-identity (RI) calculations in a given atomic orbital basis set (OBS) of any form, such as Gaussian-type orbitals, Slater-type orbitals, or numerical atomic orbitals [J. Chem. Theory Comput....

The resolution-of-the-identity (RI) or density fitting (DF) approximation for the electron repulsion integrals (ERIs) has become a standard component of accelerated and reduced-scaling implementations of first-principles Gaussian- type orbital electronic-structure methods. The Cholesky decomposition (CD) of the ERIs has also become increasingly dep...

Density functional theory is the workhorse of chemistry and materials science, and novel density functional approximations (DFAs) are published every year. To become available in program packages, the novel DFAs need to be (re)implemented. However, according to our experience as developers of Libxc [Lehtola et al, SoftwareX 7, 1 (2018)], a constant...

Strong magnetic fields such as those found on white dwarfs have significant effects on the electronic structure of atoms and molecules. However, the vast majority of molecular studies in the literature in such fields are carried out with Gaussian basis sets designed for zero field, leading to large basis set truncation errors [Lehtola et al, Mol. P...

The resolution-of-the-identity (RI) or density fitting (DF) approximation for the electron repulsion integrals (ERIs) has become a standard component of accelerated and reduced-scaling implementations of first-principles Gaussian- type orbital electronic-structure methods. The Cholesky decomposition (CD) of the ERIs has also become increasingly dep...

F. Gygi recently suggested an analytic, norm-conserving, regularized nuclear potential to enable all-electron plane-wave calculations [Gygi J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2023, 19, 1300-1309.]. This potential V(r) is determined by inverting the Schrödinger equation for the wave function Ansatz ϕ(r) = exp[-h(r)]/√π with h(r) = r erf(ar) + b exp(-a2r2), whe...

In a recent study [J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2021, 17, 1457-1468], some of us examined the accuracy of magnetizabilities calculated with density functionals representing the local density approximation (LDA), generalized gradient approximation (GGA), meta-GGA (mGGA) as well as global hybrid (GH) and range-separated (RS) hybrid functionals by assessme...

We have recently discussed an algorithm to automatically generate auxiliary basis sets (ABSs) of the standard form for density fitting (DF) or resolution-of-the-identity (RI) calculations in a given atomic orbital basis set (OBS) of any form [J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2021, 17, 6886]. In this work, we study two ways to reduce the cost of such automat...

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: e...

We have recently described the implementation of atomic electronic structure calculations within the finite element method with numerical radial basis functions of the form χμ(r) = r-1Bμ(r), where high-order Lagrange interpolating polynomials (LIPs) were used as the shape functions Bμ(r). In this work, we discuss how χμ(r) can be evaluated in a sta...

Density functional calculations on atoms are often used for determining accurate initial guesses as well as generating various types of pseudopotential approximations and efficient atomic-orbital basis sets for polyatomic calculations. To reach the best accuracy for these purposes, the atomic calculations should employ the same density functional a...

In this article the recent developments of the open-source OpenMolcas chemistry software environment, since spring 2020, are described, with the main focus on novel functionalities that are accessible in the stable branch of the package and/or via interfaces with other packages. These community developments span a wide range of topics in computatio...

F. Gygi suggested an analytic, norm-conserving, regularized Coulomb potential to allow all-electron plane wave calculations [J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2023, doi:10.1021/acs.jctc.2c01191]. We point out a shortcoming in Gygi's implementation and extend the study with atomic high-precision finite element calculations on the potential with Hartree-Fock a...

Density functional calculations on atoms are often used for determining accurate initial guesses as well as generating various types of pseudopotential approximations and efficient atomic-orbital basis sets for polyatomic calculations. To reach the best accuracy for these purposes, the atomic calculations should employ the same density functional a...

In this article the recent developments of the open-source OpenMolcas chemistry software environment, since spring 2020, are described, with the main focus on novel functionalities that are accessible in the stable branch of the package and/or via interfaces with other packages. These community developments span a wide range of topics in computatio...

We have recently described the implementation of atomic electronic structure calculations within the finite element method with numerical radial basis functions of the form $\chi_{\mu}(r)=r^{-1}B_{\mu}(r)$, where high-order Lagrange interpolating polynomials (LIPs) were used as the shape functions $B_{\mu}(r)$ [S. Lehtola, Int. J. Quantum Chem. 119...

The Hellmann--Feynman (HF) theorem provides a way to compute forces directly from the electron density, enabling efficient force calculations for large systems through machine learning (ML) models for the electron density. The main issue holding back the general acceptance of the HF approach for atom-centered basis sets is the well-known Pulay forc...

Sun et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 144, 191101 (2016)] suggested that common density-functional approximations (DFAs) should exhibit large energy errors for excited states as a necessary consequence of orbital nodality. Motivated by self-interaction corrected density-functional calculations on many-electron systems, we continue their study with the exactly...

Most computational studies in chemistry and materials science are based on the use of density functional theory. Although the exact density functional is unknown, several density functional approximations (DFAs) offer a good balance of affordable computational cost and semi-quantitative accuracy for applications. The development of DFAs still conti...

M. G. Medvedev et al. [Science 355, 49 (2017)] and K. Kepp [Science 356, 496 (2017)] initiated a discussion about the ability of recent density functional approximations (DFAs) to deliver a correct electron density in addition to a correct total energy. Motivated by self-interaction corrected density functional calculations on many-electron systems...

The Hellmann-Feynman (HF) theorem provides a way to compute forces directly from the electron density, affording an approach to calculating forces of large systems with machine learning (ML) models that predict electron density. The primary issue holding back the general acceptance of the HF approach for atom-centered basis sets is the well-known P...

Most computational studies in chemistry and materials science are based on the use of density functional theory. Although the exact density functional is unknown, several density functional approximations (DFAs) offer a good balance of affordable computational cost and semi-quantitative accuracy for applications. The development of DFAs still conti...

The recombination ("dimerization") of peroxyl radicals (RO2•) is one of the pathways suggested in the literature for the formation of peroxides (ROOR', often referred to as dimers or accretion products in the literature) in the atmosphere. It is generally accepted that these dimers play a major role in the first steps of the formation of submicron...

After decades of waiting, computational chemistry for the masses is finally here. Our brief review on free and open source software (FOSS) packages points out the existence of software offering a wide range of functionality, all the way from approximate semiempirical calculations with tight‐binding density functional theory to sophisticated ab init...

Automatic differentiation represents a paradigm shift in scientific programming, where evaluating both functions and their derivatives is required for most applications. By removing the need to explicitly derive expressions for gradients, development times can be shortened and calculations can be simplified. For these reasons, automatic differentia...

Long in the making, computational chemistry for the masses [J. Chem. Educ. 1996, 73, 104] is finally here. Our brief review on free and open source software (FOSS) packages points out the existence of software offering a wide range of functionality, all the way from approximate semiempirical calculations with tight-binding density functional theory...

Fermi--Löwdin orbitals (FLO) are a special set of localized orbitals, which have become commonly used in combination with the Perdew--Zunger self-interaction correction (SIC) in the FLO-SIC method.The FLOs are obtained for a set of occupied orbitals by specifying a classical position for each electron.These positions are known as Fermi-orbital desc...

Long in the making, computational chemistry for the masses [J. Chem. Educ. 1996, 73, 104] is finally here. Our brief review on various free and open source software (FOSS) quantum chemistry packages points out the existence of software offering a wide range of functionality, all the way from approximate semiempirical calculations with tight-binding...

Long in the making, computational chemistry for the masses [J. Chem. Educ. 1996, 73, 104] is finally here. Our brief review on various free and open source software (FOSS) quantum chemistry packages points out the existence of software offering a wide range of functionality, all the way from approximate semiempirical calculations with tight-binding...

Automatic differentiation represents a paradigm shift in scientific programming, where evaluating both functions and their derivatives is required for most applications. By removing the need to explicitly derive expressions for gradients, development times can be be shortened, and calculations simplified. For these reasons, automatic differentiatio...

Fermi-Löwdin orbitals (FLO) are a special set of localized orbitals, which have become commonly used in combination with the Perdew-Zunger self-interaction correction (SIC) in the FLO-SIC method. The FLOs are obtained for a set of occupied orbitals by specifying a classical position for each electron. These positions are known as Fermi-orbital desc...

This article summarizes technical advances contained in the fifth major release of the Q-Chem quantum chemistry program package, covering developments since 2015. A comprehensive library of exchange–correlation functionals, along with a suite of correlated many-body methods, continues to be a hallmark of the Q-Chem software. The many-body methods i...

This article summarizes technical advances contained in the fifth major release of the Q-Chem quantum chemistry program package, covering developments since 2015. A comprehensive library of exchange–correlation functionals, along with a suite of correlated many-body methods, continues to be a hallmark of the Q-Chem software. The many-body methods i...

Long in the making, computational chemistry for the masses [J. Chem. Educ. 1996, 73, 104] is finally here. We point out the existence of a variety of free and open source software (FOSS) packages for computational chemistry that offer a wide range of functionality all the way from approximate semiempirical calculations with tight-binding density fu...

Long in the making, computational chemistry for the masses [J. Chem. Educ. 1996, 73, 104] is finally here. We point out the existence of a variety of free and open source software (FOSS) packages for computational chemistry that offer a wide range of functionality all the way from approximate semiempirical calculations with tight-binding density fu...

Density fitting (DF) also known as the resolution of the identity (RI) is a widely used technique in quantum chemical calculations with various types of atomic basis sets - Gaussian-type orbitals, Slater-type orbitals, as well as numerical atomic orbitals - to speed up density functional, Hartree-Fock, and post-Hartree-Fock calculations. Traditiona...

X-ray astronomy lacks high resolution spectra of interstellar dust analogues and molecules, severely hampering interstellar medium studies based on upcoming X-ray missions. Various theoretical approaches may be used to address this problem, but they must first be shown to reproduce reliable spectra compared to the experiment. In this work, we calcu...

We develop a methodology for calculating, analyzing, and visualizing nuclear magnetic shielding densities which are calculated from the current density via the Biot-Savart relation. Atomic contributions to nuclear magnetic shielding constants can be estimated within our framework with a Becke partitioning scheme. The new features have been implemen...

We have assessed the accuracy of the magnetic properties of a set of 51 density functional approximations, including both recently published and already established functionals. The accuracy assessment considers a series of 27 small molecules and is based on comparing the predicted magnetizabilities to literature reference values calculated using c...

The homogeneous electron gas (HEG) is a key ingredient in the construction of most exchange-correlation functionals of density-functional theory. Often, the energy of the HEG is parameterized as a function of its spin density nσ, leading to the local density approximation (LDA) for inhomogeneous systems. However, the connection between the electron...

We develop a methodology for calculating, analyzing and visualizing nuclear magnetic shielding densities, which are calculated from the current density via the Biot-Savart relation. Atomic contributions to nuclear magnetic shielding constants can be estimated within our framework with a Becke partitioning scheme. The new features have been implemen...

We have assessed the accuracy for magnetic properties of a set of 51 density functionals, including both recently published as well as already established functionals. The accuracy assessment is done for a series of 27 small molecules and is based on comparing the predicted magnetizabilities to literature reference values calculated using coupled c...

We present pyflosic, an open-source, general-purpose python implementation of the Fermi–Löwdin orbital self-interaction correction (FLO-SIC), which is based on the python simulation of chemistry framework (pyscf) electronic structure and quantum chemistry code. Thanks to pyscf, pyflosic can be used with any kind of Gaussian-type basis set, various...

PySCF is a Python-based general-purpose electronic structure platform that supports first-principles simulations of molecules and solids as well as accelerates the development of new methodology and complex computational workflows. This paper explains the design and philosophy behind PySCF that enables it to meet these twin objectives. With several...

The homogeneous electron gas (HEG) is a key ingredient in the construction of most exchange-correlation functionals of density-functional theory. Often, the energy of the HEG is parameterized as a function of its density, leading to the local density approximation (LDA) for inhomogeneous systems. However, the connection between the electron density...

PSI4 is a free and open-source ab initio electronic structure program providing implementations of Hartree–Fock, density functional theory, many-body perturbation theory, configuration interaction, density cumulant theory, symmetry-adapted perturbation theory, and coupled-cluster theory. Most of the methods are quite efficient, thanks to density fi...

We present PyFLOSIC, an open-source, general-purpose Python implementation of the Fermi-Löwdin orbital self-interaction correction (FLO-SIC), which is based on the Python simulation of chemistry framework (PySCF) electronic structure and quantum chemistry code. Thanks to PySCF, PyFLOSIC can be used with any kind of Gaussian-type basis set, various...

The superposition of atomic potentials (SAP) approach has recently been shown to be a simple and efficient way to initialize electronic structure calculations [S. Lehtola, J. Chem. Theory Comput. 15, 1593–1604 (2019)]. Here, we study the differences between effective potentials from fully numerical density functional and optimized effective potenti...

We demonstrate that basis sets suitable for electronic structure calculations can be obtained from simple accuracy considerations for the hydrogenic one-electron ions Y(Y−1)+ for Y ∈ [1, Z], necessitating no self-consistent field calculations at all. It is shown that even-tempered basis sets with parameters from the commonly used universal Gaussian...

A uniform derivation of the self-consistent field equations in a finite basis set is presented. Both restricted and unrestricted Hartree–Fock (HF) theory as well as various density functional approximations are considered. The unitary invariance of the HF and density functional models is discussed, paving the way for the use of localized molecular...

div> Psi4 is a free and open-source ab initio electronic structure program providing Hartree–Fock, density functional theory, many-body perturbation theory, configuration interaction, density cumulant theory, symmetry-adapted perturbation theory, and coupled-cluster theory. Most of the methods are quite efficient thanks to density fitting and mul...

Knowledge of the repulsive behavior of potential energy curves V(R) at R→0 is necessary for understanding and modeling irradiation processes of practical interest. V(R) is in principle straightforward to obtain from electronic structure calculations; however, commonly used numerical approaches for electronic structure calculations break down in the...

The complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) method is the principal approach employed for studying strongly correlated systems. However, exact CASSCF can only be performed on small active spaces of ∼20 electrons in ∼20 orbitals due to exponential growth in the computational cost. We show that employing the Adaptive Sampling Configurati...

PYSCF is a Python-based general-purpose electronic structure platform that both supports first-principles simulations of molecules and solids, as well as accelerates the development of new methodology and complex computational workflows. The present paper explains the design and philosophy behind PYSCF that enables it to meet these twin objectives....

The superposition of atomic potentials (SAP) approach has recently been shown to be a simple and efficient way to initialize electronic structure calculations [S. Lehtola, J. Chem. Theory Comput. 15, 1593 (2019)]. Here, we study the differences between effective potentials from fully numerical density functional and optimized effective potential ca...

A recently developed finite-element approach for fully numerical atomic structure calculations [S. Lehtola, Int. J. Quantum Chem. 119, e25945 (2019)] is extended to the description of atoms with spherically symmetric densities via fractionally occupied orbitals. Specialized versions of Hartree-Fock as well as local density and generalized gradient...

We demonstrate that basis sets suitable for electronic structure calculations can be obtained from simple accuracy considerations for the hydrogenic one-electron ions Y^{(Y−1)+} for Y∈[1,Z], necessitating no self-consistent field calculations at all. It is shown that even-tempered basis sets with parameters from the commonly-used universal Gaussian...

Knowledge of the repulsive behavior of potential energy curves $V(R)$ at $R\to0$ is necessary for understanding and modeling irradiation processes of practical interest. $V(R)$ is in principle straightforward to obtain from electronic structure calculations; however, commonly-used numerical approaches for electronic structure calculations break dow...

The description of weakly bound electronic states is especially difficult with atomic orbital basis sets. The diffuse atomic basis functions that are necessary to describe the extended electronic state generate significant linear dependencies in the molecular basis set, which may make the electronic structure calculations ill-convergent. We propose...

A uniform derivation is presented of the self-consistent field equations in a finite basis set. Both restricted and unrestricted Hartree-Fock (HF) theory as well as various density functional (DF) approximations are considered. The unitary invariance of the HF and DF models is discussed, paving the way for the use of localized molecular orbitals. T...

The complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) method is the principal approach employed for studying strongly correlated systems. However, exact CASSCF can only be performed on small active space sizes of ~20 electrons in ~20 orbitals due to combinatorial growth in the computational cost. We employ the Adaptive Sampling Configuration Int...

The description of weakly bound electronic states is especially difficult with atomic orbital basis sets. The diffuse atomic basis functions that are necessary to describe the extended electronic state generate significant linear dependencies in the molecular basis set, which may make the electronic structure calculations ill-convergent. We propose...

A recently developed finite element approach for fully numerical atomic structure calculations [S. Lehtola, Int. J. Quantum Chem. e25945 (2019)] is extended to the treatment of atoms with spherically symmetric densities via fractional occupations. Specialized versions of Hartree-Fock as well as local density and generalized gradient approximation d...

The need for accurate calculations on atoms and diatomic molecules is motivated by the opportunities and challenges of such studies. The most commonly used approach for all‐electron electronic structure calculations in general—the linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO) method—is discussed in combination with Gaussian, Slater a.k.a. exponentia...

Semilocal approximations to the density functional for the exchange-correlation energy of a many-electron system necessarily fail for lobed one-electron densities, including not only the familiar stretched densities but also the less familiar but closely related noded ones. The Perdew-Zunger (PZ) self-interaction correction (SIC) to a semilocal app...

Although many programs have been published for fully numerical Hartree‐Fock (HF) or density functional (DF) calculations on atoms, we are not aware of any programs that support hybrid DFs, which are popular within the quantum chemistry community due to their better accuracy for many applications, or that can be used to calculate electric properties...

We present the implementation of a variational finite element solver in the HelFEM program for benchmark calculations on diatomic systems. A basis set of the form is used, where (μ, ν, φ) are transformed prolate spheroidal coordinates, Bn(μ) are finite element shape functions, and are spherical harmonics. The basis set allows for an arbitrary level...

We present fully numerical electronic structure calculations on diatomic molecules exposed to an external magnetic field at the unrestricted Hartree–Fock limit, using a modified version of a recently developed finite-element programme, HelFEM. We have performed benchmark calculations on a few low-lying states of H 2, HeH +, LiH, BeH +, BH and CH +...

Semi-local approximations to the density functional for the exchange-correlation energy of a many-electron system necessarily fail for lobed one-electron densities, including not only the familiar stretched densities but also the less familiar but closely-related noded ones. The Perdew-Zunger (PZ) self-interaction correction (SIC) to a semi-local a...

The need for accurate calculations on atoms and diatomic molecules is motivated by the opportunities and challenges of such studies. The most commonly-used approach for all-electron electronic structure calculations in general – the linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO) method – is discussed in combination with Gaussian, Slater a.k.a. expone...

Electronic structure calculations, such as in the Hartree–Fock or Kohn–Sham density functional approach, require an initial guess for the molecular orbitals. The quality of the initial guess has a significant impact on the speed of convergence of the self-consistent field (SCF) procedure. Popular choices for the initial guess include the one-electr...

We present fully numerical electronic structure calculations on diatomic molecules exposed to an external magnetic field at the unrestricted Hartree-Fock limit, using a modified version of a recently developed finite element program, HelFEM. We have performed benchmark calculations on a few low-lying states of H2, HeH+, LiH, BeH+, BH, and CH+ as a...

Electronic structure calculations, such as in the Hartree-Fock or Kohn-Sham density functional approach, require an initial guess for the molecular orbitals. The quality of the initial guess has a significant impact on the speed of convergence of the self-consistent field (SCF) procedure. Popular choices for the initial guess include the one-electr...

Although many programs have been published for fully numerical Hartree–Fock (HF) or density functional (DF) calculations on atoms, we are not aware of any that support hybrid DFs, which are popular within the quantum chemistry community due to their better accuracy for many applications, or that can be used to calculate electric properties. Here, w...

Electronic structure calculations, such as in the Hartree-Fock or Kohn-Sham density functional approach, require an initial guess for the molecular orbitals. The quality of the initial guess has a significant impact on the speed of convergence of the self-consistent field (SCF) procedure. Popular choices for the initial guess include the one-electr...