Ionization potentials and electron affinities from the extended Koopmans' theorem in self-consistent Green's function theory

Abstract: One-body Green's function theories implemented on the real frequency axis offer a natural formalism for the unbiased theoretical determination of quasiparticle spectra in molecules and solids. Self-consistent Green's function methods employing the imaginary axis formalism on the other hand can benefit from the iterative implicit resummation of higher order diagrams that are not included when only the first iteration is performed. Unfortunately, the imaginary axis Green's function does not give direct access to the desired quasiparticle spectra, which undermines its utility. To this end we investigate how reliably one can calculate quasiparticle spectra from the Extended Koopmans' Theorem (EKT) applied to the imaginary time Green's function in a second order approximation (GF2). We find that EKT in conjunction with GF2 yields IPs and EAs that systematically underestimate experimental and accurate coupled-cluster reference values for a variety of molecules and atoms. This establishes that the EKT allows one to utilize the computational advantages of an imaginary axis implementation, while still being able to acquire real axis spectral properties. Because the EKT requires negligible computational effort, and can be used with a Green's function from any level of theory, we conclude that it is a potentially very useful tool for the systematic study of quasiparticle spectra in realistic systems.