A discontinuous basis enables numerically exact solution of the Schrödinger equation around conical intersections in the adiabatic representation.

Solving the vibrational Schrödinger equation in the neighborhood of conical intersections in the adiabatic representation is a challenge. At the intersection point, first- and second-derivative nonadiabatic coupling matrix elements become singular, with the singularity in the second-derivative coupling (diagonal Born-Oppenheimer correction) being non-integrable. These singularities result from discontinuities in the vibronic functions associated with the individual adiabatic states, and our group has recently argued that these divergent matrix elements cancel when discontinuous adiabatic vibronic functions sum to a continuous total nonadiabatic wave function. Here we describe the realization of this concept: a novel scheme for the numerically exact solution of the Schrödinger equation in the adiabatic representation. Our approach is based on a basis containing functions that are discontinuous at the intersection point. We demonstrate that the individual adiabatic nuclear wave functions are themselves discontinuous at the intersection point. This proves that discontinuous basis functions are essential to any tractable method that solves the Schrödinger equation around conical intersections in the adiabatic representation with high numerical precision. We establish that our method provides numerically exact results by comparison to reference calculations performed in the diabatic representation. In addition, we quantify the energetic error associated with constraining the density to be zero at the intersection point, a natural approximation. Prospects for extending the present treatment of a two-dimensional model to systems of higher dimensionality are discussed.