No Arabic abstract
Parallel algorithms for ab initio calculations of vibrations modes of solids are presented and implemented under PVM. Load balancing and communication problems are dealt with in order to increase parallelism efficiency. For accurate time measurements, synchronisation of processes must be achieved. The results obtained by working with 1,2,4 and 8 processors of a Convex MetaSeries computer are presented, showing a very good efficiency. Further parallelisation of the codes (involving a three-dimensional Fast Fourier Transform) with compiler directives on a Convex Exemplar, is discussed.
RESPACK is a first-principles calculation software for evaluating the interaction parameters of materials and is able to calculate maximally localized Wannier functions, response functions based on the random phase approximation and related optical properties, and frequency-dependent electronic interaction parameters. RESPACK receives its input data from a band-calculation code using norm-conserving pseudopotentials with plane-wave basis sets. Automatic generation scripts that convert the band-structure results to the RESPACK inputs are prepared for xTAPP and Quantum ESPRESSO. An input file for specifying the RESPACK calculation conditions is designed pursuing simplicity and is given in the Fortran namelist format. RESPACK supports hybrid parallelization using OpenMP and MPI and can treat large systems including a few hundred atoms in the calculation cell.
This work reports on the elastic and electronic properties of the newly discovered superconductor Th2NiC2 (A .Machado, et al., Supercond. Sci. Technol. 25 (2012) 045010) as obtained within ab initio calculations. We found that Th2NiC2 is mechanically stable and it will behave as a ductile material exhibiting enhanced elastic anisotropy in shear and a rather low hardness Our data reveal that for Th2NiC2 the Fermi level is located in a deep DOS minimum and the experimentally observed increase in TC in the sequence Th2NiC2 -> Th1.8Sc0.2NiC2 may be explained by the growth of N(EF). We also speculate that (i) an increase in the hole concentration will promote exchange splitting of Ni 3d bands, therefore the hole-doped Th2NiC2 should have a certain concentration border, where a phase transition from the superconducting to the magnetic state will be expected, and (ii) an increase in N(EF) (and, probably, in TC) for Th2NiC2-based materials may be also achieved by an alternative way: by electron doping - for example, by partial substitution of V for Th or Cu for Ni, as well as by partial substitution of N for C with the formation of Th-Ni carbonitrides like Th2NiC2-xNx.
We investigate how different chemical environment influences magnetic properties of terbium(III) (Tb)-based single-molecule magnets (SMMs), using first-principles relativistic multireference methods. Recent experiments showed that Tb-based SMMs can have exceptionally large magnetic anisotropy and that they can be used for experimental realization of quantum information applications, with a judicious choice of chemical environment. Here, we perform complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) calculations including relativistic spin-orbit interaction (SOI) for representative Tb-based SMMs such as TbPc$_2$ and TbPcNc in three charge states. We calculate low-energy electronic structure from which we compute the Tb crystal-field parameters and construct an effective pseudospin Hamiltonian. Our calculations show that ligand type and fine points of molecular geometry do not affect the zero-field splitting, while the latter varies weakly with oxidation number. On the other hand, higher-energy levels have a strong dependence on all these characteristics. For neutral TbPc$_2$ and TbPcNc molecules, the Tb magnetic moment and the ligand spin are parallel to each other and the coupling strength between them does not depend much on ligand type and details of atomic structure. However, ligand distortion and molecular symmetry play a crucial role in transverse crystal-field parameters which lead to tunnel splitting. The tunnel splitting induces quantum tunneling of magnetization by itself or by combining with other processes. Our results provide insight into mechanisms of magnetization relaxation in the representative Tb-based SMMs.
We compute the binding energy of neutron-rich oxygen isotopes and employ the coupled-cluster method and chiral nucleon-nucleon interactions at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order with two different cutoffs. We obtain rather well-converged results in model spaces consisting of up to 21 oscillator shells. For interactions with a momentum cutoff of 500 MeV, we find that 28O is stable with respect to 24O, while calculations with a momentum cutoff of 600 MeV result in a slightly unbound 28O. The theoretical error estimates due to the omission of the three-nucleon forces and the truncation of excitations beyond three-particle-three-hole clusters indicate that the stability of 28O cannot be ruled out from ab-initio calculations, and that three-nucleon forces and continuum effects play the dominant role in deciding this question.
Water is of the utmost importance for life and technology. However, a genuinely predictive ab initio model of water has eluded scientists. We demonstrate that a fully ab initio approach, relying on the strongly constrained and appropriately normed (SCAN) density functional, provides such a description of water. SCAN accurately describes the balance among covalent bonds, hydrogen bonds, and van der Waals interactions that dictates the structure and dynamics of liquid water. Notably, SCAN captures the density difference between water and ice I{it h} at ambient conditions, as well as many important structural, electronic, and dynamic properties of liquid water. These successful predictions of the versatile SCAN functional open the gates to study complex processes in aqueous phase chemistry and the interactions of water with other materials in an efficient, accurate, and predictive, ab initio manner.