> OPEN CHALLENGE // QUANTUM CHEMISTRY

Beat R2SCAN.
Redefine DFT.

Submit your exchange-correlation functional. We benchmark it against R2SCAN on real quantum chemistry datasets. The best functional wins.

E_xc[n] = ∫ n(r) ε_xc(n, ∇n, τ) dr  // your move

$ how_it_works

01_submit

Upload Python code defining your exchange-correlation functional. Implement energy density and its derivatives with respect to n, |∇n|, and τ.

02_evaluate

Our backend runs your functional against standard benchmark sets — atomization energies, barrier heights, non-covalent interactions, and more.

03_rank

Your functional is scored on weighted mean absolute errors across benchmarks. Beat R2SCAN and claim the top of the leaderboard.

$ why_this_matters

DFT powers modern chemistry

Density Functional Theory is the workhorse of computational chemistry — used in thousands of studies daily. But the exchange-correlation functional remains approximate.

AI can find better functionals

Machine learning and AI-driven optimization can explore the functional space far beyond human intuition. We want to see what creative approaches emerge.

> Baseline: R2SCAN

R2SCAN (regularized-restored Strongly Constrained and Appropriately Normed) is a state-of-the-art meta-GGA functional. It satisfies all 17 known exact constraints for a meta-GGA and delivers excellent accuracy across diverse chemical systems.

17
exact constraints
meta-GGA
rung of Jacob's ladder
2020
year published

FunChallenge © 2026 // Advancing density functional theory through open competition