Towards Routine Condensed Phase Simulations with Delta-Learned Coupled Cluster Accuracy: Application to Liquid Water

Simulating liquid water to an accuracy that matches its wealth of available experimental data requires both precise electronic structure methods and reliable sampling of nuclear (quantum) motion. This is challenging because applying the electronic structure method of choice - coupled cluster theory with single, double and perturbative triple excitations [CCSD(T)] - to condensed phase systems is currently limited by its computational cost and complexity. Recent tour-de-force efforts have demonstrated that this accuracy can indeed bring simulated liquid water into close agreement with experiment using machine learning potentials (MLPs). However, achieving this remains far from routine, requiring large datasets and significant computational cost. In this work, we introduce a practical approach that combines developments in MLPs with local correlation approximations to enable routine CCSD(T)-level simulations of liquid water. When combined with nuclear quantum effects, we achieve agreement to experiments for structural and transport properties. Crucially, this approach extends beyond constant volume to constant pressure simulations, allowing fundamental properties such as the density to now be predicted by MLP-based CCSD(T) models. Importantly, the approach also handles constant pressure simulations, enabling MLP-based CCSD(T) models to predict isothermal-isobaric bulk properties, such as water’s density maximum in close agreement with experiment. Encompassing tests across electronic structure, datasets and MLP architecture, this work provides a practical blueprint towards routinely developing CCSD(T)-based MLPs for the condensed phase.