Density Functional Theory developments

Density-functional theory, developed 25 years ago (Hohenberg and Kohn, 1964 Kohn and Sham, 1965) has proven very successful for the study of a wide variety of problems in solid state physics (for a review, see Martin, 1985). Interactions (beyond the Hartree potential) between electrons are described with an exchange and correlation potential, which is expressed as a functional of the charge density. For practical purposes, this functional needs to be approximated. The local-density approximation (LDA), in which the exchange and correlation potential at a particular point is only a function of the charge density at that same point, has been extensively tested and found to provide a reliable description of a wide variety of solid-state properties. Choices of numerical cutoff parameters or integration schemes that have to be made at various points in the density-functional calculations are all amenable to explicit covergence tests. 

Tackling DNA with Density Functional Theory Development and Application of Parallel and Order-N DFT Methods (C. F. Guerra, F. M. Bickelhaupt, E. J. Baerends < J. G. Snijders)... 

The assumption of homogeneity can be abandoned if the continuous me m-field treatment is replaced by a discrete treatment where the positions of fluid molecules are restricted to nodes on a lattice. The discussion in Section 5.4.2 and 5.6.5 showed that the mean-field lattice density functional theory developed in Section 4.3 w as crucial in unraveling the c.om-plex phase behavior of fluids confined by chemically decorated substrate surfaces. A similar deep understanding of the phase behavior would not have been possible on the basis of simulation results alone. Nevertheless, the relation between these MC data and the lattice density functional results remained only qualitative on accoimt of the continuous models employed in the computer simulations. Thus, we aim at a more quantitative comparison between MC simulations and mean-field lattice density fimctioiial theory in the closing. section of this diaptcr. 

The model used was inspired by the free energy density functioned theory developed by Telo da Geuna and Gub-bins [17] and put into practice by Smit and co-workers [6]. Each particle in the simulation can be identified as one of two species oil or water. Amphiphiles are nothing more... 

The electromagnetic interaction energy will play a significant role in current-density functional theory developed in section 8.8. Then, we will also consider (Pauli) exchange effects which so far have been completely neglected — an approximation in accord with the early work by Moller [210,211]. For cu m —> 0 and cou —> 0 the interaction energy expectation value reduces to... 

A different and more sophisticated approach to the theory of the nematic-smectic A transition is based on the nonlocal density functional theory developed for inhomogeneous hard-core fluids [68]. The nonlocal free energy functional is defined in the following way [69-71] ... 

The entropically driven disorder-order transition in hard-sphere fluids was originally discovered in computer simulations [58, 59]. The development of colloidal suspensions behaving as hard spheres (i.e., having negligible Hamaker constants, see Section VI-3) provided the means to experimentally verify the transition. Experimental data on the nucleation of hard-sphere colloidal crystals [60] allows one to extract the hard-sphere solid-liquid interfacial tension, 7 = 0.55 0.02k T/o, where a is the hard-sphere diameter [61]. This value agrees well with that found from density functional theory, 7 = 0.6 0.02k r/a 2 [21] (Section IX-2A). 

Local spin density functional theory (LSDFT) is an extension of regular DFT in the same way that restricted and unrestricted Hartree-Fock extensions were developed to deal with systems containing unpaired electrons. In this theory both the electron density and the spin density are fundamental quantities with the net spin density being the difference between the density of up-spin and down-spin electrons ... 

Frisch M J, G W Trucks and J R Cheeseman 1996. Systematic Model Chemistries Based on Density Functional Theory Comparison with Traditional Models and with Experiment. Theoretical and Computational Chemistry (Recent Developments and Applications of Modem Density Functional Theory) 4 679-707. 

Density functional theory (DFT) has become very popular in recent years. This is justified based on the pragmatic observation that it is less computationally intensive than other methods with similar accuracy. This theory has been developed more recently than other ah initio methods. Because of this, there are classes of problems not yet explored with this theory, making it all the more crucial to test the accuracy of the method before applying it to unknown systems. 

Density functional theory was originally developed by solid-state physicists for treating crystalline solids and almost all applications were in that field until the mid-1980s. It is a current hot topic in chemistry, with many papers appearing in the primary journals. 

An important conceptual, or even philosophical, difference between the orbital/wavefunction methods and the density functional methods is that, at least in principle, the density functional methods do not appeal to orbitals. In the former case the theoretical entities are completely unobservable whereas electron density invoked by density functional theories is a genuine observable. Experiments to observe electron densities have been routinely conducted since the development of X-ray and other diffraction techniques (Coppens, 2001).18... 

Savin A., In "Recent Developments and Applications of Modem Density Functional Theory", Seminario J. M., Ed., Elsevier, 1996, 327. 

Much remains to be done to develop the chemistry of organic hgands on supported metal clusters, and substantial progress is to be expected as the samples are well suited to characterization, by IR, NMR, and neutron scattering (F. Li, J. Eckert, and B.C. Gates, unpubhshed results) spectroscopies, as well as density functional theory. 

If we except the Density Functional Theory and Coupled Clusters treatments (see, for example, reference [1] and references therein), the Configuration Interaction (Cl) and the Many-Body-Perturbation-Theory (MBPT) [2] approaches are the most widely-used methods to deal with the correlation problem in computational chemistry. The MBPT approach based on an HF-SCF (Hartree-Fock Self-Consistent Field) single reference taking RHF (Restricted Hartree-Fock) [3] or UHF (Unrestricted Hartree-Fock ) orbitals [4-6] has been particularly developed, at various order of perturbation n, leading to the widespread MPw or UMPw treatments when a Moller-Plesset (MP) partition of the electronic Hamiltonian is considered [7]. The implementation of such methods in various codes and the large distribution of some of them as black boxes make the MPn theories a common way for the non-specialist to tentatively include, with more or less relevancy, correlation effects in the calculations. 

Chandra and his coworkers have developed analytical theories to predict and explain the interfacial solvation dynamics. For example, Chandra et al. [61] have developed a time-dependent density functional theory to predict polarization relaxation at the solid-liquid interface. They find that the interfacial molecules relax more slowly than does the bulk and that the rate of relaxation changes nonmonotonically with distance from the interface They attribute the changing relaxation rate to the presence of distinct solvent layers at the interface. Senapati and Chandra have applied theories of solvents at interfaces to a range of model systems [62-64]. 

Detection of the dA N1 and dC N3 adducts may not in one sense be particularly important for DNA based on their central position within the helical conformation and hydrogen bonding network.37,38 Still, the deoxynucleoside studies helped to focus attention on the reversibility of alkylation by QM and provided insight into the reactions of duplex DNA described below in Section 9.3. Reaction at the deoxynucleoside level also provided an essential system for developing a theoretical treatment of QM reaction.50-52 Computations based on density functional theory well rationalized the published results on d A and correctly anticipated the results on dG and dC reviewed above and described in more detail in Chapter 2 (Freccero). 

Conventional bulk measurements of adsorption are performed by determining the amount of gas adsorbed at equilibrium as a function of pressure, at a constant temperature [23-25], These bulk adsorption isotherms are commonly analyzed using a kinetic theory for multilayer adsorption developed in 1938 by Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (the BET Theory) [23]. BET adsorption isotherms are a common material science technique for surface area analysis of porous solids, and also permit calculation of adsorption energy and fractional surface coverage. While more advanced analysis methods, such as Density Functional Theory, have been developed in recent years, BET remains a mainstay of material science, and is the recommended method for the experimental measurement of pore surface area. This is largely due to the clear physical meaning of its principal assumptions, and its ability to handle the primary effects of adsorbate-adsorbate and adsorbate-substrate interactions. 

It is a truism that in the past decade density functional theory has made its way from a peripheral position in quantum chemistry to center stage. Of course the often excellent accuracy of the DFT based methods has provided the primary driving force of this development. When one adds to this the computational economy of the calculations, the choice for DFT appears natural and practical. So DFT has conquered the rational minds of the quantum chemists and computational chemists, but has it also won their hearts To many, the success of DFT appeared somewhat miraculous, and maybe even unjust and unjustified. Unjust in view of the easy achievement of accuracy that was so hard to come by in the wave function based methods. And unjustified it appeared to those who doubted the soundness of the theoretical foundations. There has been misunderstanding concerning the status of the one-determinantal approach of Kohn and Sham, which superficially appeared to preclude the incorporation of correlation effects. There has been uneasiness about the molecular orbitals of the Kohn-Sham model, which chemists used qualitatively as they always have used orbitals but which in the physics literature were sometimes denoted as mathematical constructs devoid of physical (let alone chemical) meaning. 

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