Operators in quantum machine learning: Response properties in chemical space

The role of response operators is well established in quantum mechanics. We investigate their use for universal quantum machine learning models of response properties in molecules. After introducing a theoretical basis, we present and discuss numerical evidence based on measuring the potential energy's response with respect to atomic displacement and to electric fields. Prediction errors for corresponding properties, atomic forces, and dipole moments improve in a systematic fashion with training set size and reach high accuracy for small training sets. Prediction of normal modes and infrared-spectra of some small molecules demonstrates the usefulness of this approach for chemistry.