Starting SCF calculations by superposition of atomic densities

We describe the procedure to start an SCF calculation of the general type from a sum of atomic electron densities, as implemented in GAMESS-UK. Although the procedure is well known for closed-shell calculations and was already suggested when the Direct SCF procedure was proposed, the general procedure is less obvious. For instance, there is no need to converge the corresponding closed-shell Hartree-Fock calculation when dealing with an open-shell species. We describe the various choices and illustrate them with test calculations, showing that the procedure is easier, and on average better, than starting from a converged minimal basis calculation and much better than using a bare nucleus Hamiltonian. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.