Input for time-dependent density functional theory calculations follows very closely the input already described for the uncorrelated excited state methods described in the previous section (in particular, see Section 7.2.4). There are several points to be aware of:
The exchange and correlation functionals are specified exactly as for a ground state DFT calculation, through EXCHANGE and CORRELATION. To active TDDFT, set CIS_N_ROOTS to a value , specifying the number of excited states to compute.
If RPA is set to TRUE, a “full” TDDFT calculation
will be performed, however the default value is RPA = FALSE,
which invokes the TDA,
542
Chem. Phys. Lett.
(1999),
314,
pp. 291.
Link
in which the de-excitation
amplitudes in Eq. (7.15) are neglected, which is usually a
good approximation for excitation energies, although oscillator strengths
within the TDA no longer formally satisfy the Thomas-Reiche-Kuhn sum
rule.
For RPA = TRUE, a TDA calculation
is performed first and used as the initial guess for the full TDDFT
calculation. The TDA calculation can be skipped altogether using
RPA = 2. RPA is not implemented for restricted open-shell
calculations, only TDA.
If SPIN_FLIP is set to TRUE when performing a TDDFT calculation, a SF-TDDFT calculation will also be performed. At present, SF-TDDFT is only implemented within the TDA so RPA must be set to FALSE. Remember to set the spin multiplicity to 3 for systems with an even-number of electrons (e.g., diradicals), and 4 for odd-number electron systems (e.g., triradicals).
Some basic job control variables (to be added to the $rem section) are described below. There are additional options for X-ray spectroscopy; see Section 7.13.2.
CIS_SINGLETS
CIS_SINGLETS
Controls whether to compute singlet excited states.
TYPE:
LOGICAL
DEFAULT:
TRUE
OPTIONS:
FALSE
Do not compute singlet excitations.
TRUE
Compute singlet excitations.
RECOMMENDATION:
This option makes sense only for a singlet ground state, since the use of an open-shell ground state
does not afford spin-pure excited states.
CIS_TRIPLETS
CIS_TRIPLETS
Controls whether to compute triplet excited states.
TYPE:
LOGICAL
DEFAULT:
TRUE
OPTIONS:
FALSE
Do not compute triplet excitations.
TRUE
Compute triplet excitations.
RECOMMENDATION:
This option makes sense only for a singlet ground state, since the use of an open-shell ground state
does not afford spin-pure excited states.
MGGA_GINV
MGGA_GINV
Controls whether to add gauge invariance correction to meta-GGA functionals.
TYPE:
INTEGER
DEFAULT:
0
OPTIONS:
0
No correction.
1
Add gauge invariance correction to meta-GGA functionals.
RECOMMENDATION:
Not recommended when TDA is used because the TDA violates gauge invariance.
SPATIAL_OVERLAP_ANAL
SPATIAL_OVERLAP_ANAL
Controls whether to compute the charge-separation metric.
TYPE:
INTEGER
DEFAULT:
0
OPTIONS:
0
Do not compute .
1
Compute for each excited state using Eq (7.16).
2
Compute for each excited state using instead of .
RECOMMENDATION:
Request if desired.
(There is some overhead associated with computing , but it should be quite small.)
The metric obtained with option 1 (using O not ) is the one originally suggested by
Peach et al..
983
J. Chem. Phys.
(2008),
128,
pp. 044118.
Link
SPATIAL_OVERLAP_GRID
SPATIAL_OVERLAP_GRID
Controls the grid that is used to evaluate or in Eq. (7.17).
TYPE:
INTEGER
DEFAULT:
1
OPTIONS:
1
Use a EML grid with and .
2
Use a EML grid with and .
RECOMMENDATION:
None.
SPATIAL_OVERLAP_PRINT
SPATIAL_OVERLAP_PRINT
Controls whether to print the spatial overlaps or .
TYPE:
INTEGER
DEFAULT:
0
OPTIONS:
0
Do not print the .
1
Print the frontier overlaps only (5 occupied and 5 virtual orbitals.
2
Print all of the .
RECOMMENDATION:
These may be useful for a posteriori analysis of the spatial proximity of various MOs; however,
option 2 will engender significant printing for large molecules. Whether it is [Eq. (7.17)]
or [Eq. (7.18)] that is printed depends upon the setting of
SPATIAL_OVERLAP_ANAL.
WANG_ZIEGLER_KERNEL
WANG_ZIEGLER_KERNEL
Controls whether to use the Wang-Ziegler non-collinear exchange-correlation
kernel in a SF-TDDFT calculation. Set NEW_DFT = TRUE if using a Q-Chem version older than 5.0.
TYPE:
LOGICAL
DEFAULT:
FALSE
OPTIONS:
FALSE
Do not use non-collinear kernel.
TRUE
Use non-collinear kernel.
RECOMMENDATION:
None
CIS_GUESS_TYPE
CIS_GUESS_TYPE
Controls how to generate the initial guess excitation vectors in CIS/TDA/RPA calculations.
TYPE:
INTEGER
DEFAULT:
0
OPTIONS:
0
Generate (no. of roots requested) occupied virtual single orbital transitions according to their orbital energy
difference order (from low to high). This is the common scenario.
1
Generate occupied virtual single orbital transitions according to their orbital energy difference order (from low to high),
and generate another guess excitation vector consist of all the remaining single orbital transitions in the occupied virtual
transition space with equal weights.
2
Generate occupied/virtual single orbital transitions according to their orbital energy difference order (from low to high),
and generate one more guess excitation vector consist of all the remaining single orbital transitions in the occupied virtual
transition space with equal weights.
RECOMMENDATION:
The default setting should work for most of the cases. However, when the number of roots is small, in some CIS/TDA/RPA
calculations, low energy excited states could be missing. The options CIS_GUESS_TYPE = 1 or 2 may remedy this root missing
issue by sampling more vectors in the transition space. Setting CIS_GUESS_TYPE = 1 or 2 may take more cycles to converge in the
Davidson iteration, but the results are expected to be more reliable. Currently, CIS_GUESS_TYPE = 1 or 2 are not supported in
SF-XCIS calculations. Setting TRNSS = TRUE also disables the setting of CIS_GUESS_TYPE.
The following options can be used to implement the reduced excitation space that was described in Section 7.3.2.
CISTR_PRINT
CISTR_PRINT
Controls level of output.
TYPE:
LOGICAL
DEFAULT:
FALSE
Minimal output.
OPTIONS:
TRUE
Increase output level.
RECOMMENDATION:
None
CUTOCC
CUTOCC
Specifies occupied orbital cutoff.
TYPE:
INTEGER
DEFAULT:
50
OPTIONS:
0-200
Use a cutoff of CUTOCC/100
RECOMMENDATION:
None
CUTVIR
CUTVIR
Specifies virtual orbital cutoff.
TYPE:
INTEGER
DEFAULT:
0
No truncation
OPTIONS:
0-100
CUTOFF = CUTVIR/100
RECOMMENDATION:
None
N_SOL
N_SOL
Specifies number of atoms or orbitals in the $solute or $alist section.
TYPE:
INTEGER
DEFAULT:
No default.
OPTIONS:
User defined.
RECOMMENDATION:
Reads from either the $solute or $alist input section.
TRNSS
TRNSS
Controls whether reduced single excitation space is used.
TYPE:
LOGICAL
DEFAULT:
FALSE
Use full excitation space.
OPTIONS:
TRUE
Use reduced excitation space.
RECOMMENDATION:
None
TRTYPE
TRTYPE
Controls how reduced subspace is specified.
TYPE:
INTEGER
DEFAULT:
1
OPTIONS:
1
Select orbitals localized on a set of atoms.
2
Specify a set of orbitals.
3
Specify a set of occupied orbitals, include excitations to all virtual orbitals.
RECOMMENDATION:
None
Like NOCIS/STEX/1C-NOCIS, the options for the EA-TDDFT/EA-CIS method are controlled via the $nocis section after NOCIS is set to TRUE in $rem.
NOCIS
NOCIS
Requests a NOCIS/STEX/1C-NOCIS/EA-TDDFT calculation.
TYPE:
LOGICAL
DEFAULT:
FALSE
OPTIONS:
FALSE
Do not run these methods.
TRUE
Run one of these methods, options controlled in $nocis.
RECOMMENDATION:
None
The options below are set within the $nocis section.
NUM_REF
Sets the number of reference orbitals in a NOCIS/STEX/1C-NOCIS/EA-TDDFT calculation.
INPUT SECTION: $nocis
TYPE:
INTEGER
DEFAULT:
NONE
OPTIONS:
Positive integer
RECOMMENDATION:
Set according to the number of consecutive orbitals of interest for the
calculation. For example, for the oxygen K-edge in CO, the
number of references would be 2 (two oxygen 1s orbitals),
whereas for the carbon K-edge it would be 1 (one carbon 1s).
ORB_OFFSET
Determines the starting orbital for a NOCIS/STEX/1C-NOCIS/EA-TDDFT calculation.
INPUT SECTION: $nocis
TYPE:
INTEGER
DEFAULT:
NONE
OPTIONS:
Positive integer
RECOMMENDATION:
Set according to the first orbital of interest in the system in question.
For example, this would be set to 0 for the oxygen K-edge in CO because
the two O(1s) orbitals lie below the C(1s), so for the carbon K-edge this would be set to 2.
LOCALIZE_ORBITALS
Choose which core orbitals to localize with the Boys objective function.
INPUT SECTION: $nocis
TYPE:
INTEGER
DEFAULT:
for NUM_REF = 1 and equal to NUM_REF otherwise.
OPTIONS:
Integer, normally positive.
RECOMMENDATION:
Set to to skip Boys localization entirely, or set to a value greater than
NUM_REF to include more orbitals in the preliminary localization,
otherwise use the default.
SUBSYSTEM_ATOMS
Choose which atoms to consider for an EA-TDDFT calculation.
INPUT SECTION: $nocis
TYPE:
INTEGER
DEFAULT:
NONE
OPTIONS:
List of integers delimited by spaces: …
RECOMMENDATION:
Use only if excitations out of a particular subset of atoms is of interest
and the definition of ORB_OFFSET and
NUM_REF is nontrivial. This is an expert option,
and should only be used in specific situations such as isolating
the oxygen K-edge of all water molecules at the air/water interface.
DSCF_ALGORITHM
Sets the SCF algorithm to be used in the optimization of
the core-ionized reference determinants.
INPUT SECTION: $nocis
TYPE:
STRING
DEFAULT:
MOM
OPTIONS:
MOM, IMOM, STEP, or STEP_MOM
RECOMMENDATION:
Use MOM unless convergence issues arise. IMOM occasionally
provides improved convergence, but the combination of STEP
and MOM used by the STEP_MOM option is particularly robust.
In rare cases, STEP may be necessary, but this is not recommended
as the number of SCF cycles required is quite large.
If STEP_MOM is requested, the option STEP_MOM_START must also be set.
STEP_MOM_START
Sets the SCF cycle on which the STEP algorithm stops
and the MOM algorithm starts.
INPUT SECTION: $nocis
TYPE:
INTEGER
DEFAULT:
5
OPTIONS:
Positive integer.
RECOMMENDATION:
For best results, set such that STEP reaches a convergence
threshold of at least a.u. before switching to MOM,
but if MOM continues to collapse or oscillate, then
wait until tighter convergence is achieved to switch algorithms.
REF_SCF_ALGORITHM
Sets the SCF algorithm for the core-ion reference calculations.
INPUT SECTION: $nocis
TYPE:
STRING
DEFAULT:
DIIS
OPTIONS:
DIIS, GDM, GDM_LS, SGM, or SGM_LS
RECOMMENDATION:
Use DIIS for MOM, IMOM, STEP, or STEP_MOM calculations,
but if these algorithms are not providing satisfactory convergence
to the desired core-ion state, this can be set to SGM or SGM_LS.
REF_SCF_CONVERGENCE
Sets SCF convergence threshold for the core-ion reference calculations.
INPUT SECTION: $nocis
TYPE:
INTEGER
DEFAULT:
Same as SCF_CONVERGENCE in $rem
OPTIONS:
Positive integer
RECOMMENDATION:
None
REF_SCF_GUESS
Initial guess for core-ion reference calculations.
INPUT SECTION: $nocis
TYPE:
STRING
DEFAULT:
Koopman
OPTIONS:
Read (the Koopmans guess is automatically used if no option is specified)
RECOMMENDATION:
The default core-ion guess is generated by removing an electron from
the core orbital using the ground-state MO coefficients (Koopmans guess).
Alternatively, when convergence issues arise it may be useful to
run an EA-TDDFT job with a different functional (i.e., LDA or GGA), then
read the converged core-ion orbitals into a subsequent EA-TDDFT job
with the functional of interest (i.e., a range-separated hybrid).
EA_TDA
Invokes EA-TDDFT within the Tamm-Dancoff approximation.
INPUT SECTION: $nocis
TYPE:
NONE
DEFAULT:
NONE
OPTIONS:
The presence of this keyword will activate EA_TDA.
RECOMMENDATION:
This is the most cost-effective form of the EA-TDDFT
equations and has almost no effect on results for K-edge XAS.
EA_RPA
Solves the full EA-TDDFT equations.
INPUT SECTION: $nocis
TYPE:
NONE
DEFAULT:
NONE
OPTIONS:
The presence of this keyword will activate EA_RPA.
RECOMMENDATION:
No recommendation.
SINGLETS
Compute only singlets.
INPUT SECTION: $nocis
TYPE:
NONE
DEFAULT:
NONE
OPTIONS:
The presence of this keyword without the Triplets keyword
will compute singlets without computing triplets.
RECOMMENDATION:
No recommendation.
TRIPLETS
Compute only triplets.
INPUT SECTION: $nocis
TYPE:
NONE
DEFAULT:
NONE
OPTIONS:
The presence of this keyword without the Singlets keyword
will compute triplets without computing singlets.
RECOMMENDATION:
No recommendation.
N_ROOTS
Sets the number of roots to print.
INPUT SECTION: $nocis
TYPE:
INTEGER
DEFAULT:
All
OPTIONS:
where
RECOMMENDATION:
No recommendation. Beware that unlike CIS/TDDFT
jobs this keyword only prints fewer roots, but the entirety of the
Hamiltonian is still diagonalized via direct diagonalization.
PRINT_NTOS
Prints natural transition orbitals to cube files for
each root that is printed via the N_ROOTS keyword.
INPUT SECTION: $nocis
TYPE:
NONE
DEFAULT:
NONE
OPTIONS:
The presence of this keyword automatically generates
all NTOs (default), or N_ROOTS NTOs.
RECOMMENDATION:
No recommendation, but one should be sure to also include a $plots
section with appropriate details such that the cube files can be
generated.
$rem method rCAM-B3LYP rel_x2c true basis aug-cc-pCVDZ nocis true scf_convergence 8 thresh 14 integral_symmetry false point_group_symmetry false $end $nocis n_roots 10 orb_offset 0 num_ref 1 singlets ea_tda ref_scf_algorithm sgm $end $molecule 0 1 N 0.0000 0.0000 0.1163 H 0.0000 0.9399 -0.2713 H 0.8140 -0.4700 -0.2713 H -0.8140 -0.4700 -0.2713 $end
$rem method rCAM-B3LYP rel_x2c true scf_convergence 8 basis aug-cc-pCVDZ nocis true thresh 14 integral_symmetry false point_group_symmetry false $end $nocis n_roots 10 orb_offset 0 num_ref 1 singlets ea_rpa $end $molecule 0 1 N 0.0000 0.0000 0.1163 H 0.0000 0.9399 -0.2713 H 0.8140 -0.4700 -0.2713 H -0.8140 -0.4700 -0.2713 $end