pyscf-vscf

pyscf-vscf provides reduced-dimensional vibrational calculations with a PySCF electronic-structure backend. It includes:

• state-specific VSCF for n-mode Hamiltonians with one-mode potentials and explicit two-mode coupling corrections;
• 1D and 2D sinc-DVR solvers;
• frozen local-bond, normal-coordinate, and constrained relaxed scans;
• harmonic analysis and geometry optimization;
• assigned transition frequencies and axis-projected and isotropic intensities; and
• provenance-checked PES/DMS caches.

The package does not implement VCI, a full-dimensional PES generator, or general curvilinear kinetic-energy operators.

Install

pip install pyscf-vscf

PySCF and geomeTRIC are installed with the package. PySCF does not support native Windows, so Windows users should install it under WSL.

For development:

git clone https://github.com/diogovalada/pyscf-vscf.git
cd pyscf-vscf
uv sync --extra dev

VSCF Example

Run the PySCF-free example included in the wheel:

python -m pyscf_vscf.examples.vscf_two_mode

The corresponding API is:

from pyscf_vscf import NModePotential, VSCFSettings, vscf_spectrum

NModePotential represents

H = sum_i [T_i + V_i(q_i)] + sum_{i<j} V_ij(q_i, q_j)

Each V_ij is a coupling correction, not a complete pair potential. Coordinates are uniform grids in Angstrom.

PySCF Workflows

The command-line interface accepts XYZ and Midas MMOL geometries:

pyscf-vscf --xyz molecule.xyz --task harmonic
pyscf-vscf --xyz molecule.xyz --task 1d --bond 0-1 --npts 41
pyscf-vscf --help

The built-in backend supports Hartree-Fock (--method hf) and PySCF DFT exchange-correlation specifications. Scan functions also accept an injected energy/dipole evaluator through the Python API; there is not yet a packaged adapter for another electronic-structure program. Custom evaluators return Hartree energies and Cartesian Debye dipoles in the geometry frame. Use a stable custom backend_identity when writing and loading their caches.

Charge and spin are not reliably encoded in XYZ or MMOL files. Pass --charge and --spin for ions and open-shell systems.

Results And Caches

variational_1d and variational_2d return immutable TransitionRecord objects. Every record contains both the polarized-axis and isotropically averaged intensity conventions. Use record.as_dict() for JSON output.

Schema-v3 grid caches separate the causal cache identity from recorded provenance. Electronic method, basis, geometry, charge, spin, and scan grid control reuse; isotope masses, labels, runtime versions, and vibrational analysis policy do not invalidate the same Born-Oppenheimer surface. Array checksums are always verified.

See the intensity conventions, installation guide, and validation guide for details.

Validation

uv run ruff check src tests scripts
uv run ruff format --check src tests scripts
uv run pytest -q
uv run python scripts/validate_archived_grids.py --output /tmp/water-report.json
uv run python scripts/validate_nh3_three_mode.py --output /tmp/nh3-report.json

The test suite includes analytic numerical checks, tiny PySCF smoke tests, and archived H2O/HDO/D2O and NH3 molecular validations. The archives test solver correctness and convergence on stated reduced-dimensional Hamiltonians; they do not establish general spectroscopic accuracy.

License

MIT