Communication: Random-phase approximation excitation energies from approximate equation-of-motion coupled-cluster...

The ground-state correlation energy calculated in the random-phase approximation (RPA) is known to be identical to that calculated using a subset of terms appearing in coupled-cluster theory with double excitations (CCD). In particular, for particle-hole (ph) RPA this equivalence requires keeping only those terms that generate time-independent ring diagrams, and for particle-particle (pp) RPA it requires keeping only those terms that generate ladder diagrams. Here I show that these identities extend to excitation energies, for which those calculated in each RPA are identical to those calculated using approximations to equation-of-motion coupled-cluster theory with double excitations (EOM-CCD). The equivalence requires three approximations to EOM-CCD: first, the ground-state CCD amplitudes are obtained from the ring-CCD or ladder-CCD equations (the same as for the correlation energy); second, the EOM eigenvalue problem is truncated to the minimal subspace, which is one particle + one hole for ph-RPA and two particles or two holes for pp-RPA; third, the similarity transformation of the Fock operator must be neglected, as it corresponds to a Brueckner-like dressing of the single-particle propagator, which is not present in the conventional RPA.