Pseudopotentials, an overlooked source and remedy of DFT errors

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Ye, Kuiyu, Shen, Jiale, Liu, Haitao, Li, Yuanchang, Zhang, S. B.
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Ye, Kuiyu
Shen, Jiale
Liu, Haitao
Li, Yuanchang
Zhang, S. B.
author_facet Ye, Kuiyu
Shen, Jiale
Liu, Haitao
Li, Yuanchang
Zhang, S. B.
contents First-principles calculations rely heavily on pseudopotentials, yet their impact on accuracy is hardly addressed. In this work, we show that most pseudopotentials to date introduce errors, which manifest themselves as errors of atomic energy levels, leading to a $de facto$ deviation from the Hohenberg-Kohn theorem. We consider the atomic-level adjusted pseudopotentials, whose interplay with exchange-correlation functional provides a pragmatic correction that balances accuracy and efficiency. We benchmark our theory with bandgap calculation for 54 semiconductors containing monovalent Cu. The results, compared to those from conventional studies, not only remove all erroneous metal predictions for 11 compounds, but also reduce the mean relative error from 80\% to 20\%. Overall accuracy even exceeds those of standard hybrid functionals and GW methods.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_07269
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Pseudopotentials, an overlooked source and remedy of DFT errors
Ye, Kuiyu
Shen, Jiale
Liu, Haitao
Li, Yuanchang
Zhang, S. B.
Materials Science
Computational Physics
First-principles calculations rely heavily on pseudopotentials, yet their impact on accuracy is hardly addressed. In this work, we show that most pseudopotentials to date introduce errors, which manifest themselves as errors of atomic energy levels, leading to a $de facto$ deviation from the Hohenberg-Kohn theorem. We consider the atomic-level adjusted pseudopotentials, whose interplay with exchange-correlation functional provides a pragmatic correction that balances accuracy and efficiency. We benchmark our theory with bandgap calculation for 54 semiconductors containing monovalent Cu. The results, compared to those from conventional studies, not only remove all erroneous metal predictions for 11 compounds, but also reduce the mean relative error from 80\% to 20\%. Overall accuracy even exceeds those of standard hybrid functionals and GW methods.
title Pseudopotentials, an overlooked source and remedy of DFT errors
topic Materials Science
Computational Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.07269