Short-range DFT energy correction to multiconfigurational wave functions for open-shell systems

Electronic structure methods emerging from the combination of multiconfigurational wave functions and density functional theory (DFT) aim to take advantage of the strengths of the two nearly antagonistic theories. One of the common strategies employed to merge wave function theory (WFT) with DFT relies on the range separation of the Coulomb operator in which DFT functionals take care of the short-distance part, while long-range inter-electronic interactions are evaluated by using the chosen wave function method (WFT-srDFT). In this work, we uncover the limitations of WFT-srDFT in the characterization of open-shell systems. We show that spin polarization effects have a major impact on the (short-range) DFT exchange energy and are of vital importance in order to provide a balanced description between closed and open-shell configurations. We introduce different strategies to account for spin polarization in the short range based on the definition of a spin polarized electron density and with the use of short-range exact exchange. We test the performance of these approaches in the dissociation of the hydrogen molecule, the calculation of energy gaps in spin-triplet atoms and molecular diradicals, and the characterization of low-lying states of the gallium dimer. Our results indicate that the use of short-range DFT correlation in combination with a (full-range) multiconfigurational wave function might be an excellent approach for the study of open-shell molecules and largely improves the performance of WFT and WFT-srDFT.