| Abstract: | The vibrational properties of a quantum system are determined by the density response matrix. In linear response theory this quantity is connected to the polarizability matrix, which can be expressed in terms of a double summation over one-particle energies and wave functions. In has been shown that this expression is not useful in the calculation of vibrational frequencies because of the very slow convergence of the summation in terms of the unoccupied states. In this paper, a different but equivalent expression is presented using a continued fraction. The resulting expression contains only one summation over the occupied states, solving in this way all the problems connected with the sum-over-states expression of the polarizability matrix. The elimination of all the unoccupied states via the use of the moment formula turns out to be a crucial step in the solution of the problem of the first-principles calculation of the vibrational spectra of molecules and solids. |
