No Arabic abstract
It is observed that the exact interacting ground-state electronic energy of interest may be obtained directly, in principle, as a simple sum of orbital energies when a universal density-dependent term is added to $wleft(left[ rho right];mathbf{r} right)$, the familiar Hartree plus exchange-correlation component in the Kohn-Sham effective potential. The resultant shifted potential, $bar{w}left(left[ rho right];mathbf{r} right)$, actually changes less on average than $wleft(left[ rho right];mathbf{r} right)$ when the density changes, including the fact that $bar{w}left(left[ rho right];mathbf{r} right)$ does not undergo a discontinuity when the number of electrons increases through an integer. Thus the approximation of $bar{w}left(left[ rho right];mathbf{r} right)$ represents an alternative direct approach for the approximation of the ground-state energy and density.
It has recently been observed [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 113002 (2014)] that the ground-state energy may be obtained directly as a simple sum of augmented Kohn-Sham orbital energies, where it was ascertained that the corresponding one-body shifted Kohn-Sham effective potential has appealing features. With this in mind, eigenvalue and virial constraints are deduced for approximating this potential.
We construct exact Kohn-Sham potentials for the ensemble density-functional theory (EDFT) from the ground and excited states of helium. The exchange-correlation (XC) potential is compared with the quasi-local-density approximation and both single determinant and symmetry eigenstate ghost-corrected exact exchange approximations. Symmetry eigenstate Hartree-exchange recovers distinctive features of the exact XC potential and is used to calculate the correlation potential. Unlike the exact case, excitation energies calculated from these approximations depend on ensemble weight, and it is shown that only the symmetry eigenstate method produces an ensemble derivative discontinuity. Differences in asymptotic and near-ground-state behavior of exact and approximate XC potentials are discussed in the context of producing accurate optical gaps.
The Kohn-Sham approach to time-dependent density-functional theory (TDDFT) can be formulated, in principle exactly, by invoking the force-balance equation for the density, which leads to an explicit expression for the exchange-correlation potential as an implicit density functional. It is shown that this suggests a reformulation of TDDFT in terms of the second time derivative of the density, rather than the density itself. The result is a time-local Kohn-Sham scheme of second order in time whose causal structure is more transparent than that of the usual Kohn-Sham formalism. The scheme can be used to construct new approximations at the exchange-only level and beyond, and it offers a straightforward definition of the exact adiabatic approximation.
The behavior of the surface barrier that forms at the metal-vacuum interface is important for several fields of surface science. Within the Density Functional Theory framework, this surface barrier has two non-trivial components: exchange and correlation. Exact results are provided for the exchange component, for a jellium metal-vacuum interface, in a slab geometry. The Kohn-Sham exact-exchange potential $V_{x}(z)$ has been generated by using the Optimized Effective Potential method, through an accurate numerical solution, imposing the correct boundary condition. It has been proved analytically, and confirmed numerically, that $V_{x}(zto infty)to - e^{2}/z$; this conclusion is not affected by the inclusion of correlation effects. Also, the exact-exchange potential develops a shoulder-like structure close to the interface, on the vacuum side. The issue of the classical image potential is discussed.
In numerical computations of response properties of electronic systems, the standard model is Kohn-Sham density functional theory (KS-DFT). Here we investigate the mathematical status of the simplest class of excitations in KS-DFT, HOMO-LUMO excitations. We show using concentration-compactness arguments that such excitations, i.e. excited states of the Kohn-Sham Hamiltonian, exist for $Z>N$, where $Z$ is the total nuclear charge and $N$ is the number of electrons. The result applies under realistic assumptions on the exchange-correlation functional, which we verify explicitly for the widely used PZ81 and PW92 functionals. By contrast, and somewhat surprisingly, we find using a method of Glaser, Martin, Grosse, and Thirring cite{glaser1976} that in case of the hydrogen and helium atoms, excited states do not exist in the neutral case $Z=N$ when the self-consistent KS ground state density is replaced by a realistic but easier to analyze approximation (in case of hydrogen, the true Schr{o}dinger ground state density). Implications for interpreting minus the HOMO eigenvalue as an approximation to the ionization potential are indicated.