No Arabic abstract
Accurate treatment of the electronic correlation in inhomogeneous electronic systems, combined with the ability to capture the correlation energy of the homogeneous electron gas, allows to reach high predictive power in the application of density-functional theory. For two-dimensional systems we can achieve this goal by generalizing our previous approximation [Phys. Rev. B 79, 085316 (2009)] to a parameter-free form, which reproduces the correlation energy of the homogeneous gas while preserving the ability to deal with inhomogeneous systems. The resulting functional is shown to be very accurate for finite systems with an arbitrary number of electrons with respect to numerically exact reference data.
We study the properties of the lower bound on the exchange-correlation energy in two dimensions. First we review the derivation of the bound and show how it can be written in a simple density-functional form. This form allows an explicit determination of the prefactor of the bound and testing its tightness. Next we focus on finite two-dimensional systems and examine how their distance from the bound depends on the system geometry. The results for the high-density limit suggest that a finite system that comes as close as possible to the ultimate bound on the exchange-correlation energy has circular geometry and a weak confining potential with a negative curvature.
Bounds on the exchange-correlation energy of many-electron systems are derived and tested. By using universal scaling properties of the electron-electron interaction, we obtain the exponent of the bounds in three, two, one, and quasi-one dimensions. From the properties of the electron gas in the dilute regime, the tightest estimate to date is given for the numerical prefactor of the bound, which is crucial in practical applications. Numerical tests on various low-dimensional systems are in line with the bounds obtained, and give evidence of an interesting dimensional crossover between two and one dimensions.
Above the Kondo temperature, the Kohn-Sham zero-bias conductance of an Anderson junction has been shown to completely miss the Coulomb blockade. Within a standard model for the spectral function, we deduce a parameterization for both the onsite exchange-correlation potential and the bias drop as a function of the site occupation that applies for all correlation strengths. We use our results to sow doubt on the common interpretation of such corrections as arising from dynamical exchange-correlation contributions.
Employing a local formula for the electron-electron interaction energy, we derive a self-consistent approximation for the total energy of a general $N$-electron system. Our scheme works as a local variant of the Thomas-Fermi approximation and yields the total energy and density as a function of the external potential, the number of electrons, and the chemical potential determined upon normalization. Our tests for Hookes atoms, jellium, and model atoms up to $sim 1000$ electrons show that reasonable total energies can be obtained with almost a negligible computational cost. The results are also consistent in the important large-$N$ limit.
In this work we explore the performance of approximations to electron correlation in reduced density-matrix functional theory (RDMFT) and of approximations to the observables calculated within this theory. Our analysis focuses on the calculation of total energies, occupation numbers, removal/addition energies, and spectral functions. We use the exactly solvable Hubbard molecule at 1/4 and 1/2 filling as test systems. This allows us to analyze the underlying physics and to elucidate the origin of the observed trends. For comparison we also report the results of the $GW$ approximation, where the self-energy functional is approximated, but no further hypothesis are made concerning the approximations of the observables. In particular we focus on the atomic limit, where the two sites of the molecule are pulled apart and electrons localize on either site with equal probability, unless a small perturbation is present: this is the regime of strong electron correlation. In this limit, using the Hubbard molecule at 1/2 filling with or without a spin-symmetry-broken ground state, allows us to explore how degeneracies and spin-symmetry breaking are treated in RDMFT. We find that, within the used approximations, neither in RDMFT nor in $GW$ the signature of strong correlation are present in the spin-singlet ground state, whereas both give the exact result for the spin-symmetry broken case. Moreover we show how the spectroscopic properties change from one spin structure to the other. Our findings can be generalized to other situations, which allows us to make connections to real materials and experiment.