Perturbation theory and hypervirial theorems for the anharmonic oscillator

It is shown that a rapid and reliable evaluation of the energies and expectation values for an arbitrary bound state of the anharmonic oscillator within the entire range of the parameter λ can be made, based on a rearranged perturbation theory expansion using the hypervirial theorems.     

Quantum hypervirial theorems

The quantum mechanical hypervirial theorems (HVT) are given by the expectation values of a commutator between the virial operator W and the system Hamiltonian H. We propose application of the HVT to testing and improving approximate solutions of the Schroedinger equations. This is especially relevant for scattering states, where simple testing criteria are not readily available. The HVT, with judicious choices for W, can provide a criterion to test the accuracy of approximate solutions, both for the bound excited states and scattering states, and also ways to determine an optimal set of parameter values as the wave function improves.     

Partial hypervirial theorems for atomic-molecular systems

A family of partial hypervirial theorems for physical properties of pairs of particles in three-and four-particle atomic-molecular systems is considered. The partial hypervirial theorems generalize the partial virial theorems proposed earlier. The sum rule is formulated, according to which the expectation values of the derivatives with respect to the interparticle distances are related to the products of the charges of pairs of the particles. This rule is used to check the accuracy of the calculation of variational wave functions for the positronium ion e ^? e ^? e ⁺. It is shown that the sum rule is two orders of magnitude more sensitive to the inaccuracy of the calculation of the wave function than the partial virial theorems and is five or six orders of magnitude more sensitive to it than the conventional virial theorem.     

Nuclear density functional theory

An understanding of atomic nuclei is crucial for a complete nuclear theory, for the nuclear astrophysics, for performing new experimental tasks, and for various other applications. Within a density functional theory, the total binding energy of the nucleus is given by a functional of the nuclear density matrices and their derivatives. The variation of the energy density functional with respect to particle and pairing densities leads to the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov equations. The “Universal Nuclear Energy Density Functional” (UNEDF) SciDAC project to develop and optimize the energy density functional for atomic nuclei using state-of-the-art computational infrastructure, is briefly described. The ultimate goal is to replace current phenomenological models of the nucleus with a well-founded microscopic theory with minimal uncertainties, capable of describing nuclear data and extrapolating to unknown regions.     

Memory in time-dependent density functional theory

Exact time-dependent density functionals remember both the entire history of the density and the initial wave function. We show that the two effects are intimately related, and all history dependence can be written as initial-state dependence, including that of the exchange-correlation kernel. For states that can be evolved from a ground state, all initial-state dependence is a dependence on a pseudo-prehistory, providing a route to excited-state densities from time-dependent density functional theory.     

Derivative discontinuities in density functional theory

Fifty years after the original formulation of density functional theory (DFT), subtle consequences of the mathematical mappings underlying its formalism continue to merit new views. In this article, we discuss the origin, the importance, and the challenges associated with finding the derivative discontinuity of the exchange-correlation (XC) energy of DFT at integer–electron numbers. We show how even the energy of a quantum electron gas with finite volume and number of electrons displays such derivative discontinuities, but continuous density functional approximations to the XC functional miss them entirely. We discuss some of the practical problems that arise due to this lack of derivative discontinuities in standard functionals, and explain new ways to recover them.     

Developments in excited-state density functional theory

This article discusses the reasons behind the apparent lack of success of density functional theory (DFT), during the past three decades, with excited states of many-electron systems. It describes various variational and non-variational approaches developed so far for dealing with this problem. Those include Theophilou’s equiensemble approach, extended to unequally weighted ensembles by Gross et al., Fritsche’s wavefunction partitioning approach, local scaling transformation theory by Kryachko et al., the work-function formalism developed by Harbola and Sahni, etc. Through intimate connections between time-dependence and excited states, under a perturbation, various time-dependent (TD) DFT approaches to excited states, e.g., a quantum fluid dynamical approach, a TD density-functional response theory and a TD optimized effective potential approach, are also reviewed.     

On the density functional theory

Based on the theoretical analysis of the Kohn Nobel lecture, three important analytical observations regarding the fundamental statements of the density functional theory are presented. It is also noted that the Kohn-Sham equation formally coincides with the Hartree-Fock-Slater equation: both equations have a single-particle character and differ from each other only by additions to the Hartree potential.     

Application of the quantum mechanical hypervirial theorems to even-power series potentials

The class of the even-power series potentials,V(r)=-D+∑ _k-0 ^∞ V_kλ^kr^2k+2,V ₀=ω²>0is studied with the aim of obtaining approximate analytic expressions for the nonrelativistic energy eigenvalues, the expectation values for the potential and kinetic energy operators, and the mean square radii of the orbits of a particle in its ground and excited states. We use the hypervirial theorems (HVT) in conjunction with the Hellmann-Feynman theorem (HFT), which provide a very powerful scheme for the treatment of the above and other types of potentials, as previous studies have shown. The formalism is reviewed and the expressions of the above-mentioned quantities are subsequently given in a convenient way in terms of the potential parameters, the mass of the particle, and the corresponding quantum numbers, and are then applied to the case of the Gaussian potential and to the potentialV(r)=−D/cosh²(r/R). These expressions are given in the form of series expansions, the first terms of which yield, in quite a number of cases, values of very satisfactory accuracy.     

Single-particle energies and density of states in density functional theory

Time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) is commonly used as the foundation to obtain neutral excited states and transition weights in DFT, but does not allow direct access to density of states and single-particle energies, i.e. ionisation energies and electron affinities. Here we show that by extending TD-DFT to a superfluid formulation, which involves operators that break particle-number symmetry, we can obtain the density of states and single-particle energies from the poles of an appropriate superfluid response function. The standard Kohn– Sham eigenvalues emerge as the adiabatic limit of the superfluid response under the assumption that the exchange– correlation functional has no dependence on the superfluid density. The Kohn– Sham eigenvalues can thus be interpreted as approximations to the ionisation energies and electron affinities. Beyond this approximation, the formalism provides an incentive for creating a new class of density functionals specifically targeted at accurate single-particle eigenvalues and bandgaps.     

Excited states dynamics in time-dependent density functional theory

We present numerical simulations of femtosecond laser induced dynamics of some selected simple molecules -- hydrogen, singly ionized sodium dimer, singly ionized helium trimer and lithium cyanide. The simulations were performed within a real-space, real-time, implementation of time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). High harmonic generation, Coulomb explosion and laser induced photo-dissociation are observed. The scheme also describes non-adiabatic effects, such as the appearance of even harmonics for homopolar but isotopically asymmetric dimers, even if the ions are treated classically. This TDDFT-based method is reliable, scalable, and extensible to other phenomena such as photoisomerization, molecular transport and chemical reactivity.Received: 15 October 2003PACS: 33.80.Gj Diffuse spectra; predissociation, photodissociation - 33.80.Wz Other multiphoton processes     

The problem of the universal density functional and the density matrix functional theory

The analysis in this paper shows that the Hohenberg-Kohn theorem is the constellation of two statements: (i) the mathematically rigorous Hohenberg-Kohn lemma, which demonstrates that the same ground-state density cannot correspond to two different potentials of an external field, and (ii) the hypothesis of the existence of the universal density functional. Based on the obtained explicit expression for the nonrel-ativistic particle energy in a local external field, we prove that the energy of the system of more than two non-interacting electrons cannot be a functional of the inhomogeneous density. This result is generalized to the system of interacting electrons. It means that the Hohenberg-Kohn lemma cannot provide justification of the universal density functional for fermions. At the same time, statements of the density functional theory remain valid when considering any number of noninteracting ground-state bosons due to the Bose condensation effect. In the framework of the density matrix functional theory, the hypothesis of the existence of the universal density matrix functional corresponds to the cases of noninteracting particles and to interaction in the Hartree-Fock approximation.     

A generalized “weighted density” approach in density functional theory

A consistent approach to the inclusion of non-local effects in density functional theory is developed.     

Quantal density functional theory of excited states

We explain by quantal density functional theory the physics of mapping from any bound nondegenerate excited state of Schr?dinger theory to an S system of noninteracting fermions with equivalent density and energy. The S system may be in a ground or excited state. In either case, the highest occupied eigenvalue is the negative of the ionization potential. We demonstrate this physics with examples. The theory further provides a new framework for calculations of atomic excited states including multiplet structure.     

Classical density functional theory meets Monte-Carlo simulations

ABSTRACT

Typically the quality of an approximate density functional is evaluated by a direct comparison of its predictions in a given test case to exact data obtained by computer simulations. An important example for such an approach is the test of equilibrium structure of a simple fluid as measured by the pair distribution function g(r) or the cavity correlation function y(r). However, the combination of exact density profiles and the analytical structure of density functional theory allows one to determine and potentially improve the quality of a functional in a more sophisticatedway.     

Development of electron-proton density functionals for multicomponent density functional theory

We present a strategy for the development of electron-proton density functionals in multicomponent density functional theory, treating electrons and selected nuclei quantum mechanically without the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. An electron-proton functional is derived using an explicitly correlated electron-proton pair density. This functional provides accurate hydrogen nuclear densities, thereby enabling reliable calculations of molecular properties. This approach is potentially applicable to relatively large molecular systems with key hydrogen nuclei treated quantum mechanically.     

Quantum-mechanical calculations based on density functional theory

The basic concepts of density functional theory (DFT) together with the local density approximation (LDA) and the recent improvement in form of the generalized gradient approximations (GGA) are discussed. Band structure calculations using the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) method are presented in relation to pseudopotential schemes both corresponding to T=0. For finite temperatures the most advanced technique is the Car-Parrinello (CP) molecular dynamics (MD) approach, e.g. in its projector augmented wave (PAW) implementation. In CP-MD simulations nuclear motion and the electronic degrees of freedom are treated within one formalism. Such DFT calculations are illustrated for selected examples, including the breathing mode of BaBiO₃. the phase transition in SrTiO₃ and VO₂ and the Li diffusion in the superionic conductor Li₃N studied by conventional and CP molecular dynamics.