Kylin-PBC: Periodic DFT from First Principles

C++17 · GTO Basis Sets · GTH Pseudopotentials · MGDF / FTDF Integrals
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About Kylin-PBC

Kylin-PBC is a periodic Density Functional Theory (DFT) program written in C++17, designed for high-accuracy electronic structure calculations of crystalline and periodic systems.

The program employs Gaussian-type orbital (GTO) basis sets with Goedecker-Teter-Hutter (GTH) pseudopotentials, and evaluates Coulomb and exchange integrals via two advanced density fitting schemes: Multigrid Density Fitting (MGDF) and FFT-based Density Fitting (FTDF).

  • Exchange-correlation functionals via Libxc: LDA GGA meta-GGA Hybrid RSH
  • Monkhorst-Pack k-point sampling and Gamma-point solvers GRKS KRKS
  • Adaptively Compressed Exchange (ACE) acceleration for hybrid functionals ACE
  • Geometry optimization: BFGS quasi-Newton with trust radius control BFGS GDIIS
  • Occupation smearing schemes Fermi-Dirac Gaussian Methfessel-Paxton

Technical Capabilities

Core algorithmic components powering Kylin-PBC

Exchange-Correlation Functionals

Full hierarchy of Kohn-Sham DFT approximations through Libxc integration. Supports local density approximation through range-separated hybrids, enabling systematic accuracy benchmarking across Jacob's ladder.

PBE SCAN B3LYP PBE0 HSE06 HF
Brillouin Zone Sampling

Monkhorst-Pack k-point meshes with automatic dispatch between Gamma-point (real-valued GRKS) and general k-point (complex-valued KRKS) solvers for optimal memory and computational efficiency.

GRKS KRKS MP-mesh
Integral Algorithms

Two complementary density fitting schemes: Multigrid Density Fitting (MGDF) for Coulomb and pseudopotential matrix evaluation, and FFT-based Density Fitting (FTDF) for efficient exact exchange computation.

MGDF FTDF
ACE Acceleration

Adaptively Compressed Exchange (ACE) operator with optional Cholesky decomposition dramatically reduces the cost of hybrid functional SCF iterations while preserving numerical accuracy.

ACE Cholesky Ewald-X
Geometry Optimization

Analytical nuclear gradient-driven structural relaxation with BFGS quasi-Newton Hessian updates, trust-radius step control, and GDIIS/GEDIIS geometry extrapolation for accelerated convergence.

BFGS RFO GDIIS GEDIIS
SCF Convergence Engine

Multi-level mixing framework operating on density matrix, electron density, and Hamiltonian simultaneously. Broyden and DIIS algorithms with configurable history depth and fractional occupation smearing.

Broyden DIIS Fermi-Dirac MP

Quick Start

Kylin-PBC requires two input files in the working directory: cell.txt (unit cell and atomic positions) and calc.txt (calculation parameters). Below is a minimal example for a silicon diamond single-point calculation.

cell.txt
# Silicon diamond — lattice vectors (Angstrom)
3.8396000862    0.0000000000    0.0000000000
1.9198000431    3.3251912150    0.0000000000
1.9198000431    1.1083970717    3.1350203425
Cart
Si  0.000000000    0.000000000    0.000000000
Si  1.919800043    1.108397072    0.783755086
calc.txt
SCF.xcfun     = PBE
SCF.basis     = gth-molopt-dzvp-sr
SCF.psudo     = gth-pbe
SCF.kmesh     = 3 3 3
SCF.max_cycle = 100
SCF.eps_engy  = 1e-8 [eV]
SCF.hks_mix_method = BROY
SCF.smear_method  = fermi
SCF.smear_sigma   = 300 [K]