On the measure of electron correlation and entanglement in quantum chemistry based on the cumulant of the second-order reduced density matrix

Abstract

In this paper we propose a functional of the many-body cumulant of the second-order reduced density matrix within the spin-free formalism of quantum chemistry which quantifies the idea of electron correlation and allows one to detect spin entanglement. Its properties are rigorously stated and discussed for spin-adapted pure states. Numerical determinations are performed for both equilibrium conformations and dissociation processes in molecular systems. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.