Variational reduced-density-matrix calculations on radicals: An alternative approach to open-shell ab initio quantum chemistry

An alternative approach to open-shell molecular calculations using the variational two-electron reduced-density-matrix (2-RDM) theory [ Mazziotti Phys. Rev. Lett. 93 213001 (2004)] is presented. The energy and 2-RDM of the open-shell molecule (or radical) are computed from the limit of dissociating one or more hydrogen atoms from a molecule in a singlet state. Because the ground-state energy of an “infinitely” separated hydrogen atom in a given finite basis is known, we can determine the energy of the radical by subtracting the energy of one or more hydrogen atoms from the energy of the total dissociated system. The 2-RDM is constrained to have singlet symmetry in all calculations. Two sets of N-representability conditions are employed: (i) two-positivity conditions, and (ii) two-positivity conditions plus the T₂ condition, which is a subset of the three-positivity conditions. Optimization of the energy with respect to the 2-RDM is performed with a first-order algorithm for solving the semidefinite program within the variational 2-RDM method. We present calculations of several radicals near equilibrium as well as the dissociation curves of the diatomic radicals CH and OH.