Multi-reference weak pairs local configuration interaction: efficient calculations of bond breaking

We present a new local multi-reference singles and doubles configuration interaction (MRSDCI) algorithm. The method presented here eliminates configurations if they involve simultaneous excitations out of widely separated internal orbitals and is therefore based on the weak pairs approximation of Saebّ and Pulay. Although the resulting truncated CI expansions have only about 50% as many CSFs as the non-local MRSDCI, we show that they can recover over 99% of the correlation energy. Additionally, we show for the first time that they can accurately describe bond dissociation.