Electron density Hohenberg-Kohn theorems

Let us recall that the Hohenberg-Kohn theorems allow us to construct a rigorous many-body theory using the electron density as the fundamental quantity. We showed in the previous chapter that in this framework the ground state energy of an atomic or molecular system can be written as... 

The electron density of a non-degenerate ground state system determines essentially all physical properties of the system. This statement of the Hohenberg-Kohn theorem of Density Functional Theory plays an exceptionally important role among all the fundamental relations of Molecular Physics. 

As a consequence of the Hohenberg-Kohn theorem [14], a non-degenerate ground state electron density p(r) determines the Hamiltonian H of the system within an additive constant, implying that the electron density p(r) also determines all ground state and all excited state properties of the system. 

The original Hohenberg-Kohn theorem was directly applicable to complete systems [14], The first adaptation of the Hohenberg-Kohn theorem to a part of a system involved special conditions the subsystem considered was a part of a finite and bounded entity regarded as a hypothetical system [21], The boundedness condition, in fact, the presence of a boundary beyond which the hypothetical system did not extend, was a feature not fully compatible with quantum mechanics, where no such boundaries can exist for any system of electron density, such as a molecular electron density. As a consequence of the Heisenberg uncertainty relation, molecular electron densities cannot have boundaries, and in a rigorous sense, no finite volume, however large, can contain a complete molecule. 

The conclusion that it may be possible to formulate the quantum mechanics of many-electron systems solely in terms of the single-particle density was put on a firm foundation by the two Hohenberg-Kohn theorems (1964), which are stated below, without proof. 

According to the Hohenberg-Kohn theorem of the density functional theory, the ground-state electron density determines all molecular properties. E. Bright Wilson [46] noticed that Kato s theorem [47,48] provides an explicit procedure for constructing the Hamiltonian of a Coulomb system from the electron density ... 

Secondly, information is obtained on the nature of the nuclei in the molecule from the cusp condition [11]. Thirdly, the Hohenberg-Kohn theorem points out that, besides determining the number of electrons, the density also determines the external potential that is present in the molecular Hamiltonian [15]. Once the number of electrons is known from Equation 16.1 and the external potential is determined by the electron density, the Hamiltonian is completely determined. Once the electronic Hamiltonian is determined, one can solve Schrodinger s equation for the wave function, subsequently determining all observable properties of the system. In fact, one can replace the whole set of molecular descriptors by the electron density, because, according to quantum mechanics, all information offered by these descriptors is also available from the electron density. 

This chapter has dealt with introducing the main concepts within a theory called MQS. It has discussed the different steps to be taken to evaluate and quantify a degree of similarity between molecules in some molecular set but also fragments in molecules. QSM provides a scheme that relieves the arbitrariness of molecular similarity by using the electron density function as the sole descriptor, in agreement with the Hohenberg-Kohn theorems. It also addressed the different pitfalls that are present, for example the dependence on proper molecular alignment. 

The basic theorem in DFT is the Hohenberg-Kohn theorem, where the ground-state energy is defined as a functional of electron density and is given by [10]... 

Density functional theory (DFT) uses the electron density p(r) as the basic source of information of an atomic or molecular system instead of the many-electron wave function T [1-7]. The theory is based on the Hohenberg-Kohn theorems, which establish the one-to-one correspondence between the ground state electron density of the system and the external potential v(r) (for an isolated system, this is the potential due to the nuclei) [6]. The electron density uniquely determines the number of electrons N of the system [6]. These theorems also provide a variational principle, stating that the exact ground state electron density minimizes the exact energy functional F[p(r)]. 

The DFT approach (for an excellent introduction, see Parr and Yang 1989) is different and somewhat simpler. The electron density p(r) has been recognized to be a feature that uniquely determines all properties of the electronic ground state (1st Hohenberg-Kohn theorem). Instead of minimizing E with respect to coefficients of the wave function as in HF, E is minimized with respect to the electron density p... 

P. W. Ayers, S. Golden, and M. Levy, Generalizations of the Hohenberg—Kohn theorem I. Legendre transform constructions of variational principles for density matrices and electron distribution functions. J. Chem. Phys. 124, 054101 (2006). 

Density functional theory is originally based on the Hohenberg-Kohn theorem [105, 106]. In the case of a many-electron system, the Hohenberg-Kohn theorem establishes that the ground-state electronic density p(r), instead of the potential v(r), can be used as the fundamental variable to describe the physical properties of the system. In the case of a Hamiltonian given by... 

A useful way to write down the functional described by the Hohenberg-Kohn theorem is in terms of the single-electron wave functions, vji (r). Remember from Eq. (1.2) that these functions collectively define the electron density, (r). The energy functional can be written as... 

In fact, the true form of the exchange-correlation functional whose existence is guaranteed by the Hohenberg-Kohn theorem is simply not known. Fortunately, there is one case where this functional can be derived exactly the uniform electron gas. In this situation, the electron density is constant at all points in space that is, n(r) = constant. This situation may appear to be of limited value in any real material since it is variations in electron density that define chemical bonds and generally make materials interesting. But the uniform electron gas provides a practical way to actually use the Kohn-Sham equations. To do this, we set the exchange-correlation potential at each position to be the known exchange-correlation potential from the uniform electron gas at the electron density observed at that position ... 

Density functional theory purists are apt to argue that the Hohenberg-Kohn theorem [1] ensures that the ground-state electron density p(r) determines all the properties of the ground state. In particular, the electron momenmm density n( ) is determined by the electron density. Although this is true in principle, there is no known direct route from p to IT. Thus, in practice, the electron density and momentum density offer complementary approaches to a qualitative understanding of electronic structure. 

The spirit of the Hohenberg-Kohn theorem is that the inverse statement is also true The external potential v(r) is uniquely determined by the ground-state electron density distribution, n(r). In other words, for two different external potentials vi(r) and V2(r) (except a trivial overall constant), the electron density distributions ni(r) and 2(r) must not be equal. Consequently, all aspects of the electronic structure of the system are functionals of n(r), that is, completely determined by the function (r). 

The so-called Hohenberg-Kohn theorem states that the ground-state electron density p(r) describing an N-electron system uniquely determines the potential V(r) in the Hamiltonian... 

The Hohenberg-Kohn theorems were extended by Rajagopal and Callaway (25) to the more general relativistic case. Instead of the electron density they treated the 4-current in the same manner as Hohenberg and Kohn and obtained the energy expression,... 

The density functional methods were, in the views of many, legitimized by the introduction of the first Hohenberg-Kohn theorem [10]. The consequence of this celebrated theorem is that for a non-degenerate ground state and a given external potential, v(r), the electronic ground state energy can be expressed as... 

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