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    Accuracy and Precision in Electronic Structure Computation: Wien2k and FPLO
    (Basel : MDPI, 2022) Richter, Manuel; Kim, Seo-Jin; Koepernik, Klaus; Rosner, Helge; Möbius, Arnulf
    Electronic structure calculations in the framework of density functional theory are based on complex numerical codes which are used in a multitude of applications. Frequently, existing experimental information is used as a gauge for the reliability of such codes. However, their results depend both on the chosen exchange-correlation energy functional and on the specific numerical implementation of the Kohn-Sham equations. The only way to disentangle these two items is a direct comparison of two or more electronic structure codes. Here, we address the achievable numerical accuracy and numerical precision in the total energy computation of the two all-electron density-functional codes Wien2k and FPLO. Both codes are based on almost independent numerical implementations and largely differ in the representation of the Bloch wave function. Thus, it is a highly encouraging result that the total energy data obtained with both codes agree within less than 10−6. We here relate the term numerical accuracy to the value of the total energy E, while the term numerical precision is related to the numerical noise of E as observed in total energy derivatives. We find that Wien2k achieves a slightly higher accuracy than FPLO at the price of a larger numerical effort. Further, we demonstrate that the FPLO code shows somewhat higher precision, i.e., less numerical noise in E than Wien2k, which is useful for the evaluation of physical properties based on derivatives of E.
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    The Open Quantum Materials Database (OQMD): assessing the accuracy of DFT formation energies
    (London : Nature Publ. Group, 2015) Kirklin, Scott; Saal, James E.; Meredig, Bryce; Thompson, Alex; Doak, Jeff W.; Aykol, Muratahan; Rühl, Stephan; Wolverton, Chris
    The Open Quantum Materials Database (OQMD) is a high-throughput database currently consisting of nearly 300,000 density functional theory (DFT) total energy calculations of compounds from the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database (ICSD) and decorations of commonly occurring crystal structures. To maximise the impact of these data, the entire database is being made available, without restrictions, at www.oqmd.org/download. In this paper, we outline the structure and contents of the database, and then use it to evaluate the accuracy of the calculations therein by comparing DFT predictions with experimental measurements for the stability of all elemental ground-state structures and 1,670 experimental formation energies of compounds. This represents the largest comparison between DFT and experimental formation energies to date. The apparent mean absolute error between experimental measurements and our calculations is 0.096 eV/atom. In order to estimate how much error to attribute to the DFT calculations, we also examine deviation between different experimental measurements themselves where multiple sources are available, and find a surprisingly large mean absolute error of 0.082 eV/atom. Hence, we suggest that a significant fraction of the error between DFT and experimental formation energies may be attributed to experimental uncertainties. Finally, we evaluate the stability of compounds in the OQMD (including compounds obtained from the ICSD as well as hypothetical structures), which allows us to predict the existence of ~3,200 new compounds that have not been experimentally characterised and uncover trends in material discovery, based on historical data available within the ICSD.