Approaching the Hartree-Fock Limit Through the CABS Singles Correction and Auxiliary Basis Sets

Auxiliary basis sets for use in the resolution of the identity (RI) approximation in explicitly correlated methods are presented for the elements H–Ar. These extend the cc-pVnZ-F12/OptRI (n = D–Q) auxiliary basis sets of Peterson and coworkers by the addition of a small number of s- and p-functions, optimized so as to yield the great- est complementary auxiliary basis set (CABS) singles correction to the Hartree-Fock energy. The new sets, denoted OptRI+, also lead to a reduction in errors due to the RI approximation and hence an improvement in correlation energies. The atomization energies and heats of formation for a test set of small molecules, and spectroscopic constants for 27 diatomics, calculated at the CCSD(T)-F12b level, are shown to have improved error distributions for the new auxiliary basis sets with negligible additional effort. The OptRI+ sets retain all of the desirable properties of the original OptRI, including the production of smooth potential energy surfaces, whilst maintaining a compact nature.