Self-consistent treatment of spin-orbit interactions with efficient Hartree-Fock and density functional methods

Efficient self-consistent field (SCF) schemes including both scalar relativistic effects and spin-orbit (SO) interactions at Hartree-Fock (HF) and density functional (DFT) levels are presented. SO interactions require the extension of standard procedures to two-component formalisms. Efficiency is achieved by using effective core potentials (ECPs) and by employing the resolution-of-the-identity approximation for the Coulomb part (RI-J) in pure DFT calculations as well as also for the HF-exchange part (RI-JK) in the case of HF or hybrid-DFT treatments. The procedures were implemented in the program system TURBOMOLE; efficiency is demonstrated for comparably large systems, such as Pb-54. Relevance of SO effects for electronic structure and stability is illustrated by treatments of small Pb and Po clusters with and without accounting for SO effects.