The role of high-order electron correlation effects in a model system for non-valence correlation-bound anions

The diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC), auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo (AFQMC), and equation-of-motion coupled cluster (EOM-CC) methods are used to calculate the electron binding energy (EBE) of the non-valence anion state of a model (H₂O)₄ cluster. Two geometries are considered, one at which the anion is unbound and the other at which it is bound in the Hartree-Fock (HF) approximation. It is demonstrated that DMC calculations can recover from the use of a HF trial wave function that has collapsed onto a discretized continuum solution, although larger EBEs are obtained when using a trial wave function for the anion that provides a more realistic description of the charge distribution and, hence, of the nodal surface. For the geometry at which the cluster has a non-valence correlation-bound anion, both the inclusion of triples in the EOM-CC method and the inclusion of supplemental diffuse d functions in the basis set are important. DMC calculations with suitable trial wave functions give EBE values in good agreement with our best estimate EOM-CC result. AFQMC using a trial wave function for the anion with a realistic electron density gives a value of the EBE nearly identical to the EOM-CC result when using the same basis set. For the geometry at which the anion is bound in the HF approximation, the inclusion of triple excitations in the EOM-CC calculations is much less important. The best estimate EOM-CC EBE value is in good agreement with the results of DMC calculations with appropriate trial wave functions.