Interpolating numerically exact many-body wave functions for accelerated molecular dynamics

Abstract While there have been many developments in computational probes of both strongly-correlated molecular systems and machine-learning accelerated molecular dynamics, there remains a significant gap in capabilities in simulating accurate non-local electronic structure over timescales on which a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yannic Rath, George H. Booth
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-02-01
Series:Nature Communications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57134-9
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Summary:Abstract While there have been many developments in computational probes of both strongly-correlated molecular systems and machine-learning accelerated molecular dynamics, there remains a significant gap in capabilities in simulating accurate non-local electronic structure over timescales on which atoms move. We develop an approach to bridge these fields with a practical interpolation scheme for the correlated many-electron state through the space of atomic configurations, whilst avoiding the exponential complexity of these underlying electronic states. With a small number of accurate correlated wave functions as a training set, we demonstrate provable convergence to near-exact potential energy surfaces for subsequent dynamics with propagation of a valid many-body wave function and inference of its variational energy whilst retaining a mean-field computational scaling. This represents a profoundly different paradigm to the direct interpolation of potential energy surfaces in established machine-learning approaches. We combine this with modern electronic structure approaches to systematically resolve molecular dynamics trajectories and converge thermodynamic quantities with a high-throughput of several million interpolated wave functions with explicit validation of their accuracy from only a few numerically exact quantum chemical calculations. We also highlight the comparison to traditional machine-learned potentials or dynamics on mean-field surfaces.
ISSN:2041-1723