Predicting electronic screening for fast Koopmans spectral functional calculations

Abstract Koopmans spectral functionals are a powerful extension of Kohn-Sham density-functional theory (DFT) that enables the prediction of spectral properties with state-of-the-art accuracy. The success of these functionals relies on capturing the effects of electronic screening through scalar, orb...

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Main Authors: Yannick Schubert, Sandra Luber, Nicola Marzari, Edward Linscott
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2024-12-01
Series:npj Computational Materials
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41524-024-01484-3
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author Yannick Schubert
Sandra Luber
Nicola Marzari
Edward Linscott
author_facet Yannick Schubert
Sandra Luber
Nicola Marzari
Edward Linscott
author_sort Yannick Schubert
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Koopmans spectral functionals are a powerful extension of Kohn-Sham density-functional theory (DFT) that enables the prediction of spectral properties with state-of-the-art accuracy. The success of these functionals relies on capturing the effects of electronic screening through scalar, orbital-dependent parameters. These parameters have to be computed for every calculation, making Koopmans spectral functionals more expensive than their DFT counterparts. In this work, we present a machine-learning model that—with minimal training—can predict these screening parameters directly from orbital densities calculated at the DFT level. We show in two prototypical use cases that using the screening parameters predicted by this model, instead of those calculated from linear response, leads to orbital energies that differ by less than 20 meV on average. Since this approach dramatically reduces run times with minimal loss of accuracy, it will enable the application of Koopmans spectral functionals to classes of problems that previously would have been prohibitively expensive, such as the prediction of temperature-dependent spectral properties. More broadly, this work demonstrates that measuring violations of piecewise linearity (i.e., curvature in total energies with respect to occupancies) can be done efficiently by combining frozen-orbital approximations and machine learning.
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spelling doaj-art-ac2136edb4544a3cbc13fe2df8744f3d2025-08-20T01:57:16ZengNature Portfolionpj Computational Materials2057-39602024-12-0110111210.1038/s41524-024-01484-3Predicting electronic screening for fast Koopmans spectral functional calculationsYannick Schubert0Sandra Luber1Nicola Marzari2Edward Linscott3Department of Chemistry, University of ZurichDepartment of Chemistry, University of ZurichTheory and Simulations of Materials (THEOS) and National Centre for Computational Design and Discovery of Novel Materials (MARVEL), École Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneCenter for Scientific Computing, Theory and Data, Paul Scherrer InstituteAbstract Koopmans spectral functionals are a powerful extension of Kohn-Sham density-functional theory (DFT) that enables the prediction of spectral properties with state-of-the-art accuracy. The success of these functionals relies on capturing the effects of electronic screening through scalar, orbital-dependent parameters. These parameters have to be computed for every calculation, making Koopmans spectral functionals more expensive than their DFT counterparts. In this work, we present a machine-learning model that—with minimal training—can predict these screening parameters directly from orbital densities calculated at the DFT level. We show in two prototypical use cases that using the screening parameters predicted by this model, instead of those calculated from linear response, leads to orbital energies that differ by less than 20 meV on average. Since this approach dramatically reduces run times with minimal loss of accuracy, it will enable the application of Koopmans spectral functionals to classes of problems that previously would have been prohibitively expensive, such as the prediction of temperature-dependent spectral properties. More broadly, this work demonstrates that measuring violations of piecewise linearity (i.e., curvature in total energies with respect to occupancies) can be done efficiently by combining frozen-orbital approximations and machine learning.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41524-024-01484-3
spellingShingle Yannick Schubert
Sandra Luber
Nicola Marzari
Edward Linscott
Predicting electronic screening for fast Koopmans spectral functional calculations
npj Computational Materials
title Predicting electronic screening for fast Koopmans spectral functional calculations
title_full Predicting electronic screening for fast Koopmans spectral functional calculations
title_fullStr Predicting electronic screening for fast Koopmans spectral functional calculations
title_full_unstemmed Predicting electronic screening for fast Koopmans spectral functional calculations
title_short Predicting electronic screening for fast Koopmans spectral functional calculations
title_sort predicting electronic screening for fast koopmans spectral functional calculations
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41524-024-01484-3
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AT edwardlinscott predictingelectronicscreeningforfastkoopmansspectralfunctionalcalculations