Many-electron wave functions, electronic structure

Nowadays, many electronic structure codes include efficient implementations [37—41] of the Ramsey equations [42] for the calciflations of nonrelativistic spin—spin coupling constants. A vast number of publications devoted to the calculation of/-couplings can be found in the Hterature, covering different aspects such as the basis set effects [43-55], the comparison of wave function versus density functional theory (DFT) methods [56-60], or the choice of exchange-correlation functional in DFT approaches [61-68]. Excellent recent reviews of Contreras [69] andHelgaker [70] cover these particular aspects. 

Density-functional theory (DFT) is one of the most widely used quantum mechanical approaches for calculating the structure and properties of matter on an atomic scale. It is nowadays routinely applied for calculating physical and chemical properties of molecules that are too large to be treatable by wave-function-based methods. The problem of determining the many-body wave function of a real system rapidly becomes prohibitively complex. Methods such as configuration interaction (Cl) expansions, coupled cluster (CC) techniques or Moller Plesset (MP) perturbation theory thus become harder and harder to apply. Computational complexity here is related to questions such as how many atoms there are in the molecule, how many electrons each atom contributes, how many basis functions are... 

One is purely formal, it concerns the departure from symmetry of an approximate solution of the Schrodinger equation for the electrons (ie within the Bom-Oppenheimer approximation). The most famous case is the symmetry-breaking of the solutions of the Hartree-Fock equations [1-4]. The other symmetry-breaking concerns the appearance of non symmetrical conformations of minimum potential energy. This phenomenon of deviation of the molecular structure from symmetry is so familiar, confirmed by a huge amount of physical evidences, of which chirality (i.e. the existence of optical isomers) was the oldest one, that it is well accepted. However, there are many problems where the Hartree-Fock symmetry breaking of the wave function for a symmetrical nuclear conformation and the deformation of the nuclear skeleton are internally related, obeying the same laws. And it is one purpose of the present review to stress on that internal link. 

The minimization of this functional presents a problem which for many component mixtures can be quite timeconsuming if the truly optimal form of the interface and free energy is to be found. One may use an iterative method of solution much like the famous scheme used to solve for the Hartree-Fock wave function in electronic structure calculations [4]. An alternative, much to be preferred when sufficiently accurate, is to use a simple parametrized form for the particle densities through the interface and then determine the optimal values of these parameters. The simplest possible scheme is, of course, to take the profile to be a step function. 

For the conduction electrons, it is reasonable to consider that the inner-shell electrons are all localized on individual nuclei, in wave functions very much like those they occupy in the free atoms. The potential V should then include the potential due to the positively charged ions, each consisting of a nucleus plus filled inner shells of electrons, and the self-consistent potential (coulomb plus exchange) of the conduction electrons. However, the potential of an ion core must include the effect of exchange or antisymmetry with the inner-shell or core electrons, which means that the conduction-band wave functions must be orthogonal to the core-electron wave functions. This is the basis of the orthogonalized-plane-wave method, which has been successfully used to calculate band structures for many metals.41... 

The superscripts a and P indicate the spin state of the electrons in the many-electron wave-function. Although many biologically important compounds, particularly metallopro-teins46, exist in states with unpaired electrons, our work has not involved the study of open-shell systems. Readers who wish to apply semi-empirical methods in the study of such structures should consult more specialized discussions47,48. In my experience, handling the complications that arise in treating systems with unpaired electrons should probably be left to professional theoreticians ... 

Most of the commonly used electronic-structure methods are based upon Hartree-Fock theory, with electron correlation sometimes included in various ways (Slater, 1974). Typically one begins with a many-electron wave function comprised of one or several Slater determinants and takes the one-electron wave functions to be molecular orbitals (MO s) in the form of linear combinations of atomic orbitals (LCAO s) (An alternative approach, the generalized valence-bond method (see, for example, Schultz and Messmer, 1986), has been used in a few cases but has not been widely applied to defect problems.)... 

Since the early days of quantum mechanics, the wave function theory has proven to be very successful in describing many different quantum processes and phenomena. However, in many problems of quantum chemistry and solid-state physics, where the dimensionality of the systems studied is relatively high, ab initio calculations of the structure of atoms, molecules, clusters, and crystals, and their interactions are very often prohibitive. Hence, alternative formulations based on the direct use of the probability density, gathered under what is generally known as the density matrix theory [1], were also developed since the very beginning of the new mechanics. The independent electron approximation or Thomas-Fermi model, and the Hartree and Hartree-Fock approaches are former statistical models developed in that direction [2]. These models can be considered direct predecessors of the more recent density functional theory (DFT) [3], whose principles were established by Hohenberg,... 

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