Multilevel CC2 and CCSD in reduced orbital spaces: electronic excitations in large molecular systems

Abstract: We present efficient implementations of the multilevel CC2 (MLCC2) and multilevel CCSD (MLCCSD) models. As the system size increases, MLCC2 and MLCCSD exhibit the scaling of the lower level coupled cluster model. In order to treat large systems, we combine MLCC2 and MLCCSD with a reduced orbital space approach where the multilevel coupled cluster calculation is performed in a significantly truncated molecular orbital basis. The truncation scheme is based on the selection of an active region of the molecular system and the subsequent construction of localized Hartree-Fock orbitals. These orbitals are used in the multilevel coupled cluster calculation. The electron repulsion integrals are Cholesky decomposed using a screening protocol that guarantees accuracy in the truncated molecular orbital basis. The Cholesky factors are constructed directly in the truncated basis, ensuring low storage requirements. Even larger systems can be treated by using a multilevel Hartree-Fock reference. With the reduced space approach, we can handle systems with more than a thousand atoms. This is demonstrated for paranitroaniline in aqueous solution.