Non-perturbative calculation of molecular magnetic properties within current-density functional theory

• DOI: 10.1063/1.4861427
• Publication Date: 2014-01-16T19:05:37Z
• Authors: E. I. Tellgren; A. M. Teale; J. W. Furness; K. K. Lange; U. Ekström; T. Helgaker
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; 01 natural sciences

We present a novel implementation of Kohn–Sham density-functional theory utilizing London atomic orbitals as basis functions. External magnetic fields are treated non-perturbatively, which enable the study of both magnetic response properties and the effects of strong fields, using either standard density functionals or current-density functionals—the implementation is the first fully self-consistent implementation of the latter for molecules. Pilot applications are presented for the finite-field calculation of molecular magnetizabilities, hypermagnetizabilities, and nuclear magnetic resonance shielding constants, focusing on the impact of current-density functionals on the accuracy of the results. Existing current-density functionals based on the gauge-invariant vorticity are tested and found to be sensitive to numerical details of their implementation. Furthermore, when appropriately regularized, the resulting magnetic properties show no improvement over standard density-functional results. An advantage of the present implementation is the ability to apply density-functional theory to molecules in very strong magnetic fields, where the perturbative approach breaks down. Comparison with high accuracy full-configuration-interaction results show that the inadequacies of current-density approximations are exacerbated with increasing magnetic field strength. Standard density-functionals remain well behaved but fail to deliver high accuracy. The need for improved current-dependent density-functionals, and how they may be tested using the presented implementation, is discussed in light of our findings.