The ground state tunneling splitting of malonaldehyde: Accurate full dimensional quantum dynamics calculations

Benchmark calculations of the tunneling splitting in malonaldehyde using the full dimensional potential proposed by Yagi et al. are reported. Two exact quantum dynamics methods are used: the multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree (MCTDH) approach and the diffusion Monte Carlo based projection operator imaginary time spectral evolution (POITSE) method. A ground state tunneling splitting of 25.7+/-0.3 cm(-1) is calculated using POITSE. The MCTDH computation yields 25 cm(-1) converged to about 10% accuracy. These rigorous results are used to evaluate the accuracy of approximate dynamical approaches, e.g., the instanton theory.