HgH2 meets relativistic quantum crystallography. How to teach relativity to a non-relativistic wavefunction.

The capability of X-ray constrained wavefunction (XCW) fitting to introduce relativistic effects into a non-relativistic wavefunction is tested. It is quantified how much of the reference relativistic effects can be absorbed in the non-relativistic XCW calculation when fitted against relativistic structure factors of a model HgH2 molecule. Scaling of the structure-factor sets to improve the agreement statistics is found to introduce a significant systematic error into the XCW fitting of relativistic effects.