Differentiability of Lieb functional in electronic density functional theory

A solid understanding of the Lieb functional F_L is important because of its centrality in the foundations of electronic density functional theory. A basic question is whether directional derivatives of F_L at an ensemble‐V‐representable density are given by (minus) the potential. A widely accepted purported proof that F_L is Gâteaux differentiable at EV‐representable densities would say, “yes.” But that proof is fallacious, as shown here. F_L is not Gâteaux differentiable in the normal sense, nor is it continuous. By means of a constructive approach, however, we are able to show that the derivative of F_L at an EV‐representable density ρ₀ in the direction of ρ₁ is given by the potential if ρ₀ and ρ₁ are everywhere strictly greater than zero, and they and the ground state wave function have square integrable derivatives through second order. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2007