The complete active space SCF (CASSCF) method in a Newton–Raphson formulation with application to the HNO molecule

Abstract

The complete active space (CAS) SCF method is presented in detail with special emphasis on computational aspects. The CASSCF wave function is formed from a complete distribution of a number of active electrons in a set of active orbitals, which in general constitute a subset of the total occupied space. In contrast to other MCSCF schemes, a CASSCF calculation involves no selection of individual configurations, and the wave function therefore typically consists of a large number of terms. The largest case treated here includes 10 416 spin and space adapted configurations. To be able to treat such large CI expansions, a density-matrix oriented formalism is used. The Newton–Raphson scheme is applied to calculate the orbital rotations, and the secular problem is solved with recent developments of CI techniques. The applicability of the method is demonstrated in calculations on the HNO molecule in ground and excited states, using a triple-zeta basis and different sizes of the active space. With a reasonable choice of active space, the calculations converge in 6–10 iterations. This is true also for states which are not the lowest state of the symmetry in question. The equilibrium geometry for the ground state is RNO=1.215(1.212) Å, RNH =1.079(1.063) Å, ϑHNO=108.8(108.6) °, the experimental values given in parenthesis for comparison. The best estimates for the transition energies to the lowest 3A″ and 1A″ states are 0.67(0.85) eV and 1.52(1.63) eV, respectively. The results obtained indicate that the choice of active space may be crucial for the convergence properties of CASSCF calculations.