Quantum Monte Carlo studies of covalent and metallic clusters: Accuracy of density functional approximations

To assess the accuracy of exchange-correlation approximations within density functional theory (DFT), diffusion quantum Monte Carlo (DMC) and DFT methods are used to calculate the energies of isomers of three covalently bonded carbon and boron clusters (C₂₀, B₁₈, and B₂₀), and three metallic aluminum and copper clusters (Al₁₃, Al₅₅, and Cu₁₃). We find that local and semilocal DFT methods predict the same energy ordering as DMC for the metallic clusters but not for the covalent clusters, implying that the DFT functionals are inadequate in such systems. In addition, we find that DFT fails to describe energy reductions arising from Jahn-Teller distortions.