An excitation matched local correlation approach to excited state specific perturbation theory

We develop a cubic scaling approach to excited-state-specific second order perturbation theory in which the completeness of a local correlation treatment is carefully matched between the ground and excited states. With this matching, the accuracy of the parent method is maintained even as substantial portions of the correlation energy are neglected. Even when treating a long-range charge transfer excitation, cubic scaling is achieved in systems with as few as ten non-hydrogen atoms. In a test on the influence of an explicit solvent molecule on a long range charge transfer, the approach is qualitatively more accurate than EOM-CCSD and reproduces CC3’s excitation energies and excited state potential energy surface to within about 0.1 eV and 0.5 kcal/mol, respectively.