Total molecular photoionization cross-sections by algebraic diagrammatic construction-Stieltjes-Lanczos method: Benchmark calculations (original) (raw)

Phys. 130, 064104 (2009)] we introduced a new L 2 ab initio method for the calculation of total molecular photoionization cross-sections. The method is based on the ab initio description of discretized photoionized molecular states within the many-electron Green's function approach, known as algebraic diagrammatic construction (ADC), and on the application of Stieltjes-Chebyshev moment theory to Lanczos pseudospectra of the ADC electronic Hamiltonian. Here we establish the accuracy of the new technique by comparing the ADC-Lanczos-Stieltjes cross-sections in the valence ionization region to the experimental ones for a series of eight molecules of first row elements: HF, NH 3 , H 2 O, CO 2 , H 2 CO, CH 4 , C 2 H 2 , and C 2 H 4. We find that the use of the second-order ADC technique [ADC(2)] that includes double electronic excitations leads to a substantial systematic improvement over the first-order method [ADC(1)] and to a good agreement with experiment for photon energies below 80 eV. The use of extended second-order ADC theory [ADC(2)x] leads to a smaller further improvement. Above 80 eV photon energy all three methods lead to significant deviations from the experimental values which we attribute to the use of Gaussian single-electron bases. Our calculations show that the ADC(2)-Lanczos-Stieltjes technique is a reliable and efficient ab initio tool for theoretical prediction of total molecular photo-ionization cross-sections in the valence region.