title: Self-consistent-field calculations of core excited states.
abstract: The accuracy of core excitation energies and core electron binding energies computed within a Delta self-consistent-field framework is assessed. The variational collapse of the core excited state is prevented by maintaining a singly occupied core orbital using an overlap criterion called the maximum overlap method. When applied to a wide range of small organic molecules, the resulting core excitation energies are not systematically underestimated as observed in time-dependent density functional theory and agree well with experiment. The accuracy of this approach for core excited states is illustrated by the calculation of the pre-edge features in x-ray absorption spectra of plastocyanin, which shows that accurate results can be achieved with Delta self-consistent-field calculations when used in conjunction with uncontracted basis functions.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, England. nick.besley@nottingham.ac.uk
authors.forename: Nicholas A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Besley
authors.forename: Andrew T B
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Gilbert
authors.forename: Peter M W
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Gill