Exploring the Design Space of Machine Learning Models for Quantum Chemistry with a Fully Differentiable Framework

Traditional atomistic machine learning (ML) models serve as surrogates for quantum mechanical (QM) properties, predicting quantities such as dipole moments and polarizabilities directly from compositions and geometries of atomic configurations. With the emergence of ML approaches to predict the "ingredients" of a QM calculation, such as the ground-state charge density or the effective single-particle Hamiltonian, it has become possible to obtain multiple properties through analytical physics-based operations on these intermediate ML predictions. We present a framework that seamlessly integrates the prediction of an effective electronic Hamiltonian, for both molecular and condensed-phase systems, with PySCFAD, a differentiable QM workflow. This integration facilitates training models indirectly against functions of the Hamiltonian, such as electronic energy levels, dipole moments, polarizability, etc. We then use this framework to explore various possible choices within the design space of hybrid ML/QM models, examining the influence of incorporating multiple targets on model performance and learning a reduced-basis ML Hamiltonian that can reproduce targets computed on a much larger basis. Our benchmarks evaluate the accuracy and transferability of these hybrid models, compare them against predictions of atomic properties from their surrogate models, and provide indications to guide the design of the interface between the ML and QM components of the model.