Hartree-Fock theory solid-state materials

As indicated before, the ab initio electronic-structure theory of solid-state materials has largely profited from density-functional theory (DFT), and the performance of DFT has turned out well even when the one of its molecular quantum-chemical competitors - Hartree-Fock theory - has been weakest, namely for metallic materials. For these, and also for covalent materials, DFT is a very reasonable choice. On the other hand, ionic compounds (with both metals and nonmetals present) are often discussed using only the ionic model, on which most of Section 1.2 was based, and the quantum-mechanical approach is not considered at all, at least in introductory textbooks. Nonetheless, let us see, as a first instructive example, how a t5q)ical ionic material can be described and understood by the ionic and the quantum-chemical (DFT and HF) approaches, and let us also analyze the strengths and weaknesses. 

The inherent problems associated with the computation of the properties of solids have been reduced by a computational technique called Density Functional Theory. This approach to the calculation of the properties of solids again stems from solid-state physics. In Hartree-Fock equations the N electrons need to be specified by 3/V variables, indicating the position of each electron in space. The density functional theory replaces these with just the electron density at a point, specified by just three variables. In the commonest formalism of the theory, due to Kohn and Sham, called the local density approximation (LDA), noninteracting electrons move in an effective potential that is described in terms of a uniform electron gas. Density functional theory is now widely used for many chemical calculations, including the stabilities and bulk properties of solids, as well as defect formation energies and configurations in materials such as silicon, GaN, and Agl. At present, the excited states of solids are not well treated in this way. 

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