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Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Computation of Atmospheric Concentrations of Molecular Clusters from ab initio Thermochemistry
Published on: April 8, 2020
Complete basis set limit second-order Møller-Plesset calculations for the fcc lattices of neon, argon, krypton, and
Andreas Hermann1, Peter Schwerdtfeger
1Centre for Theoretical Chemistry and Physics, The New Zealand Institute for Advanced Study, Massey University (Auckland Campus), Private Bag 102904, North Shore City, Auckland 0745, New Zealand.
Abstract:
Complete basis set (CBS) limit calculations using second-order Møller-Plesset (MP2) theory for electron correlation within a many-body expansion of the interaction potential up to third order are carried out for the fcc lattices of Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe. Lattice constants and cohesive energies from recent localized MP2 solid-state calculations by Halo et al. [Chem. Phys. Lett. 467, 294 (2009)] are in reasonable agreement with our CBS limit results. A detailed analysis reveals that MP2 severely underestimates long-range three-body effects, thus the Axilrod-Teller term is incorrectly described causing bond contractions for all rare gas solids considered. Further, any deviations in the MP2 lattice constant, cohesive energy, and bulk modulus can be traced back to inaccuracies in the binding energy and equilibrium distance of the rare gas dimer. Without inclusion of phonon dispersion, MP2 prefers the hcp over the fcc crystal structure for all rare gas solids considered.
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