Spin Density Distribution in Open-Shell Transition Metal Systems: A Comparative Post-Hartree-Fock, Density Functional Theory, and Quantum Monte Carlo Study of the CuCl2 Molecule

We present a comparative study of the spatial distribution of the spin density of the ground state of CuCl2 using Density Functional Theory (DFT), quantum Monte Carlo (QMC), and post-Hartree-Fock wave function theory (WFT). A number of studies have shown that an accurate description of the electronic structure of the lowest-lying states of this molecule is particularly challenging due to the interplay between the strong dynamical correlation effects in the 3d shell and the delocalization of the 3d hole over the chlorine atoms. More generally, this problem is representative of the difficulties encountered when studying open-shell metal-containing molecular systems. Here, it is shown that qualitatively different results for the spin density distribution are obtained from the various quantum-mechanical approaches. At the DFT level, the spin density distribution is found to be very dependent on the functional employed. At the QMC level, Fixed-Node Diffusion Monte Carlo (FN-DMC) results are strongly dependent on the nodal structure of the trial wave function. Regarding wave function methods, most approaches not including a very high amount of dynamic correlation effects lead to a much too high localization of the spin density on the copper atom, in sharp contrast with DFT. To shed some light on these conflicting results Full CI-type (FCI) calculations using the 6-31G basis set and based on a selection process of the most important determinants, the so-called CIPSI approach (Configuration Interaction with Perturbative Selection done Iteratively) are performed. Quite remarkably, it is found that for this 63-electron molecule and a full CI space including about 1018 determinants, the FCI limit can almost be reached. Putting all results together, a natural and coherent picture for the spin distribution is proposed.