Density functional theory Kohn-Sham orbitals

In Kohn-Sham (KS) density functional theory (DFT), the occupied orbital functions of a model state are derived by minimizing the ground-state energy functionals of Hohenberg and Kohn. It has been assumed for some time that effective potentials in the orbital KS equations are always equivalent to local potential functions. When tested by accurate model calculations, this locality assumption is found to fail for more than two electrons. Here this failure is explored in detail. The sources of the locality hypothesis in current DFT thinking are examined, and it is shown how the theory can be extended to an orbital functional theory (OFT) that removes the inconsistencies and paradoxes. 

The method is an approximate self-consistent-field (SCF) ab initio method, as it contains no empirical parameters. All of the SCF matrix elements depend entirely on the geometry and basis set, which must be orthonormal atomic orbitals. Originally, the impetus for its development was to mimic Hartree-Fock-Roothaan [5] (HFR) calculations especially for large transition metal complexes where full HFR calculations were still impossible (40 years ago). However, as we will show here, the method may be better described as an approximate Kohn-Sham (KS) density functional theory (DFT)... 

We shall see that the method of Kohn and Sham in density functional theory actually provides a sound theoretical base for this method which has been used Over the years simply as a numerical convenience. The density functional method uses a set of fictional molecular orbitals which do not themselves have any physical interpretation and whose only property is to generate an electron density which is exact. The whole of the experimental calibration procedure is thrown into the generation of a potential (the exchange/correlation potential) which can, in principle, be universal that is, not dependent on the particular molecule under study. The huge number of parameters required in earlier semi-empirical methods (some for every atom) is replaced by choice of a form for this potential and a few universal parameters (up to a dozen). 

The application of density functional theory to isolated, organic molecules is still in relative infancy compared with the use of Hartree-Fock methods. There continues to be a steady stream of publications designed to assess the performance of the various approaches to DFT. As we have discussed there is a plethora of ways in which density functional theory can be implemented with different functional forms for the basis set (Gaussians, Slater type orbitals, or numerical), different expressions for the exchange and correlation contributions within the local density approximation, different expressions for the gradient corrections and different ways to solve the Kohn-Sham equations to achieve self-consistency. This contrasts with the situation for Hartree-Fock calculations, wlrich mostly use one of a series of tried and tested Gaussian basis sets and where there is a substantial body of literature to help choose the most appropriate method for incorporating post-Hartree-Fock methods, should that be desired. 

Kohn-Sham orbitals functions for describing the electron density in density functional theory calculations... 

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. 

Goddart, J. D., Orlova, G., 1999, Density Functional Theory with Fractionally Occupied Frontier Orbitals and the Instabilities of the Kohn-Sham Solutions for Defining Diradical Transition States Ring-Opening Reactions ,... 

However, one feature of the HF potential is that it is not a local potential. In the case of perfect data (i.e. zero experimental error), the fitted orbitals obtained are no longer Kohn-Sham orbitals, as they would have been if a local potential (for example, the local exchange approximation [27]) had been used. Since the fitted orbitals can be described as orbitals which minimise the HF energy and are constrained produce the real density , they are obviously quite closely related to the Kohn-Sham orbitals, which are orbitals which minimise the kinetic energy and produce the real density . In fact, Levy [16] has already considered these kind of orbitals within the context of hybrid density functional theories. 

A new and accurate quantum mechanical model for charge densities obtained from X-ray experiments has been proposed. This model yields an approximate experimental single determinant wave function. The orbitals for this wave function are best described as HF orbitals constrained to give the experimental density to a prescribed accuracy, and they are closely related to the Kohn-Sham orbitals of density functional theory. The model has been demonstrated with calculations on the beryllium crystal. 

Applying the variational principle to the energy given by Eq. 1, Kohn and Sham reformulated the density functional theory by deriving a set of one-electron Hartree-like equations leading to the Kohn-Sham orbitals v().(r) involved in the calculation of p(r)15. The Kohn-Sham (KS) equations are written as follows ... 

All calculations presented here are based on density-functional theory [37] (DFT) within the LDA and LSD approximations. The Kohn-Sham orbitals [38] are expanded in a plane wave (PW) basis set, with a kinetic energy cutoff of 70 Ry. The Ceperley-Alder expression for correlation and gradient corrections of the Becke-Perdew type are used [39]. We employ ah initio pseudopotentials, generated by use of the Troullier-Martins scheme [40], The coreradii used, in au, were 1.23 for the s, p atomic orbitals of carbon, 1.12 for s, p of N, 0.5 for the s of H, and 1.9, 2.0, 1.5, 1.97,... 

In most cases, the orbital relaxation contribution is negligible and the Fukui function and the FMO reactivity indicators give the same results. For example, the Fukui functions and the FMO densities both predict that electrophilic attack on propylene occurs on the double bond (Figure 18.1) and that nucleophilic attack on BF3 occurs at the Boron center (Figure 18.2). The rare cases where orbital relaxation effects are nonnegligible are precisely the cases where the Fukui functions should be preferred over the FMO reactivity indicators [19-22], In short, while FMO theory is based on orbitals from an independent electron approximation like Hartree-Fock or Kohn-Sham, the Fukui function is based on the true many-electron density. 

Evidently, the LSD and GGA approximations are working, but not in the way the standard spin-density functional theory would lead us to expect. In Ref [36], a nearly-exact alternative theory, to which LSD and GGA are also approximations, is constructed, which yields an alternative physical interpretation in the absence of a strong external magnetic field. In this theory, Hf(r) and rti(r) are not the physical spin densities, but are only intermediate objects (like the Kohn-Sham orbitals or Fermi surface) used to construct two physical predictions the total electron density n(r) from... 

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