Excitation energies from extended random phase approximation employed with approximate one- and two-electron reduced density matrices

Starting from Rowe's equation of motion we derive extended random phase approximation (ERPA) equations for excitation energies. The ERPA matrix elements are expressed in terms of the correlated ground state one-and two-electron reduced density matrices, 1- and 2-RDM, respectively. Three ways of obtaining approximate 2-RDM are considered: linearization of the ERPA equations, obtaining 2-RDM from density matrix functionals, and employing 2-RDM corresponding to an anti-symmetrized product of strongly orthogonal geminals (APSG) ansatz. Applying the ERPA equations with the exact 2-RDM to a hydrogen molecule reveals that the resulting (1)Sigma(+)(g) excitation energies are not exact. A correction to the ERPA excitation operator involving some double excitations is proposed leading to the ERPA2 approach, which employs the APSG one-and two-electron reduced density matrices. For two-electron systems ERPA2 satisfies a consistency condition and yields exact singlet excitations. It is shown that 2-RDM corresponding to the APSG theory employed in the ERPA2 equations yields excellent singlet excitation energies for Be and LiH systems, and for the N-2 molecule the quality of the potential energy curves is at the coupled cluster singles and doubles level. ERPA2 nearly satisfies the consistency condition for small molecules that partially explains its good performance. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4766934]