Schrodinger equation density functional theory

Thus, the electron density already provides all the ingredients that we identified as being necessary for setting up the system specific Hamiltonian and it seems at least very plausible that in fact p( ) suffices for a complete determination of all molecular properties (of course, this does not relieve us from the task of actually solving the corresponding Schrodinger equation and all the difficulties related to this). As noted by Handy, 1994, these very simple and beautifully intuitive arguments in favor of density functional theory are attributed to E. B. Wilson. So the answer to the question posed in the caption to this section is certainly a loud and clear Yes . 

This, at first glance innocuous-looking functional FHK[p] is the holy grail of density functional theory. If it were known exactly we would have solved the Schrodinger equation, not approximately, but exactly. And, since it is a universal functional completely independent of the system at hand, it applies equally well to the hydrogen atom as to gigantic molecules such as, say, DNA FHK[p] contains the functional for the kinetic energy T[p] and that for the electron-electron interaction, Eee[p], The explicit form of both these functionals lies unfortunately completely in the dark. However, from the latter we can extract at least the classical Coulomb part J[p], since that is already well known (recall Section 2.3),... 

Quantum mechanical methods follow a similar path, except that the starting point is the solution of the Schrodinger equation for the system under investigation. The most successful and widely used method is that of Density Functional Theory. Once again, a key point is the development of a realistic model that can serve as the input to the computer investigation. Energy minimization, molecular dynamics, and Monte Carlo methods can all be employed in this process. 

The study of behavior of many-electron systems such as atoms, molecules, and solids under the action of time-dependent (TD) external fields, which includes interaction with radiation, has been an important area of research. In the linear response regime, where one considers the external held to cause a small perturbation to the initial ground state of the system, one can obtain many important physical quantities such as polarizabilities, dielectric functions, excitation energies, photoabsorption spectra, van der Waals coefficients, etc. In many situations, for example, in the case of interaction of many-electron systems with strong laser held, however, it is necessary to go beyond linear response for investigation of the properties. Since a full theoretical description based on accurate solution of TD Schrodinger equation is not yet within the reach of computational capabilities, new methods which can efficiently handle the TD many-electron correlations need to be explored, and time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) is one such valuable approach. 

Consequently, from the density the Hamiltonian can be readily obtained, and then every property of the system can be determined by solving the Schrodinger equation to obtain the wave function. One has to emphasize, however, that this argument holds only for Coulomb systems. By contrast, the density functional theory formulated by Hohenberg and Kohn is valid for any external potential. Kato s theorem is valid not only for the ground state but also for the excited states. Consequently, if the density n, of the f-th excited state is known, the Hamiltonian H is also known in principle and its eigenvalue problem ... 

Within the Hohenberg-Kohn approach [17, 18], the possibility of transforming density functional theory into a theory fully equivalent to the Schrodinger equation hinges on whether the elusive universal energy functional can ever be found. Unfortunately, the Hohenberg-Kohn theorem, being just an existence theorem, does not provide any indication of how one should proceed in order to find this functional. Moreover, the contention that such a functional should exist - and that it should be the same for systems that have neither the same number of particles nor the same symmetries (for an atom, for example, those symmetries are defined by U, L, S, and the parity operator ft) -certainly opens the door to dubious speculation. 

For completeness, we need to point out that the name density functional theory is not solely applied to the type of quantum mechanics calculations we have described in this chapter. The idea of casting problems using functionals of density has also been used in the classical theory of fluid thermodynamics. In this case, the density of interest is the fluid density not the electron density, and the basic equation of interest is not the Schrodinger equation. Realizing that these two distinct scientific communities use the same name for their methods may save you some confusion if you find yourself in a seminar by a researcher from the other community. 

In this paper we present preliminary results of an ab-initio study of quantum diffusion in the crystalline a-AlMnSi phase. The number of atoms in the unit cell (138) is sufficiently small to permit computation with the ab-initio Linearized Muffin Tin Orbitals (LMTO) method and provides us a good starting model. Within the Density Functional Theory (DFT) [15,16], this approach has still limitations due to the Local Density Approximation (LDA) for the exchange-correlation potential treatment of electron correlations and due to the approximation in the solution of the Schrodinger equation as explained in next section. However, we believe that this starting point is much better than simplified parametrized tight-binding like s-band models. 

In the Time Dependent Density Functional Theory (TDDFT) [16], the correlated many-electron problem is mapped into a set of coupled Schrodinger equations for each single electronic wavefunctions (o7 (r, t),j= 1, ), which yields the so-called Kohn-Sham equations (in atomic units)... 

Two commonly used approximations are the Hartree-Fock approach and density-functional theory (DFT). The Hartree-Fock approach approximates the exact solution of the Schrodinger equation using a series of equations that describe the wavefunc-tions of each individual electron. If these equations are solved explicitly during the calculation, the method is known as ab initio Hartree-Fock. The less expensive (i.e., less time-consuming) semi-empirical methods use preselected parameters for some of the integrals. DFT, on the other hand, uses the electronic density as the basic quantity, instead of a many-body electronic wavefunction. The advantage of this is that the density is a function of only three variables (instead of 3N variables), and is simpler to deal with both in concept and in practice. 

For anything but the most trivial systems, it is not possible to solve the electronic Schrodinger equation exactly, and approximate techniques must instead be used. There exist a variety of approximate methods, including Hartree-Fock (HF) theory, single- and multireference correlated ab initio methods, semiempirical methods, and density functional theory. We discuss each of these in turn. In Hartree-Fock theory, the many-electron wavefunction vF(r1, r2,..., r ) is approximated as an antisymmetrized product of one-electron wavefunctions, ifijfi) x Pauli principle. This antisymmetrized product is known as a Slater determinant. 

Density functional calculations (DFT calculations, density functional theory) are, like ab initio and semiempirical calculations, based on the Schrodinger equation However, unlike the other two methods, DFT does not calculate a conventional wavefunction, but rather derives the electron distribution (electron density function) directly. Afunctional is a mathematical entity related to a function. 

Semiempirical methods - based on approximate solutions of the Schrodinger equation with appeal to fitting to experiment (i.e. using parameterization) Density functional theory (DFT) methods - based on approximate solutions of the Schrodinger equation, bypassing the wavefunction that is a central feature of ab initio and semiempirical methods Molecular dynamics methods study molecules in motion. 

Label these statements true or false (1) For each molecular wavefunction there is an electron density function. (2) Since the electron density function has only x, y, z as its variables, DFT necessarily ignores spin. (3) DFT is good for transition metal compounds because it has been specifically parameterized to handle them. (4) In the limit of a sufficiently big basis set, a DFT calculation represents an exact solution of the Schrodinger equation. (5) The use of very big basis sets is essential with DFT. (6) A major problem in density functional theory is the prescription for going from the molecular electron density function to the energy. 

Density functional theory (DFT) is based on the Hohenberg-Kohn theorem, which states that there is a functional which gives the exact ground-state energy for the exact electron density. DFT models have become very popular because they are not more costly than Hartree-Fock models. The reason is that in the HF, Cl and MP models, a wavefunction for an N-electron system depends on 3N coordinates, whereas in the DFT approach, the electron density depends on only three coordinates, irrespective of the number of electrons. The problem is that the exact functional would be the Schrodinger equation itself Several approximate functionals have been developed by many authors (Becke, Parr, Perdew, and others) and different forms of the functional can yield slightly different results. Some of the most common DFT models are ... 

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