Electronegativity in the local density functional formalism

A theoretical basis for Miedema and coworker's empirical relation between electronegativity and electron density at the boundary of a Wigner-Seitz cell is provided in the framework of local density functional theory. An essential feature of our model is the introduction of an effective mass parameter determined from the zero pressure stability condition for an individual cell. Our results suggest that non local effects play an important role in alloy formation.