FALCON: A method for flexible adaptation of local coordinates of nuclei

We present a flexible scheme for calculating vibrational rectilinear coordinates with well-defined strict locality on a certain set of atoms. Introducing a method for Flexible Adaption of Local COordinates of Nuclei (FALCON) we show how vibrational subspaces can be “grown” in an adaptive manner. Subspace Hessian matrices are set up and used to calculate and analyze vibrational modes and frequencies. FALCON coordinates can more generally be used to construct vibrational coordinates for describing local and (semi-local) interacting modes with desired features. For instance, spatially local vibrations can be approximately described as internal motion within only a group of atoms and delocalized modes can be approximately expressed as relative motions of rigid groups of atoms. The FALCON method can support efficiency in the calculation and analysis of vibrational coordinates and energies in the context of harmonic and anharmonic calculations. The features of this method are demonstrated on a few small molecules, i.e., formylglycine, coumarin, and dimethylether as well as for the amide-I band and low-frequency modes of alanine oligomers and alpha conotoxin.