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20: Response Theory

  • Page ID
    60577
    • Jack Simons and Jeff Nichols
    • University of Utah and Oak Ridge National Laboratory

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    Many physical properties of a molecule can be calculated as expectation values of a corresponding quantum mechanical operator. The evaluation of other properties can be formulated in terms of the "response" (i.e., derivative) of the electronic energy with respect to the application of an external field perturbation.

    • 20.1: Calculations of Properties Other Than the Energy
      This page provides an in-depth exploration of molecular properties significant to chemists, including dipole moments, polarizabilities, and energy responses to external perturbations, particularly within a multi-configurational self-consistent field (MCSCF) framework. It highlights challenges in computational methods, particularly regarding wavefunction responses and the role of the Hessian matrix in analyzing energy landscapes.
    • 20.2: Ab Initio, Semi-Empirical, and Empirical Force Field Methods
      This page reviews computational methods for analyzing electronic states and physical properties of molecules, detailing ab initio, semi-empirical, and fully empirical approaches. Ab initio methods rely on first principles but are computationally heavy, ideal for small systems.

    Thumbnail: Potential energy diagram. (Public Domain; Chem540grp1f08)


    This page titled 20: Response Theory is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Jack Simons and Jeff Nichols via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.