Most applications of time-dependent density-functional theory (TDDFT) use the adiabatic local-density approximation (ALDA) for the dynamical exchange-correlation potential V(xc)(r,t). An exact (i.e., nonadiabatic) extension of the ground-state LDA into the dynamical regime leads to a V(xc)(r,t) with a memory, which causes the electron dynamics to become dissipative. To illustrate and explain this nonadiabatic behavior, this paper studies the dynamics of two interacting electrons on a two-dimensional quantum strip of finite size, comparing TDDFT within and beyond the ALDA with numerical solutions of the two-electron time-dependent Schrodinger equation. It is shown explicitly how dissipation arises through multiple particle-hole excitations, and how the nonadiabatic extension of the ALDA fails for finite systems but becomes correct in the thermodynamic limit.
We formulate equations of time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) in the comoving Lagrangian reference frame. The main advantage of the Lagrangian description of many-body dynamics is that in the comoving frame the current density vanishes, while the density of particles becomes independent of time. Therefore a comoving observer will see a picture which is very similar to that seen in the equilibrium system from the laboratory frame. It is shown that the most natural set of basic variables in TDDFT includes the Lagrangian coordinate, $\mathbf{\ensuremath{\xi}}$, a symmetric deformation tensor ${g}_{\ensuremath{\mu}\ensuremath{\nu}}$, and a skew-symmetric vorticity tensor, ${F}_{\ensuremath{\mu}\ensuremath{\nu}}$. These three quantities, respectively, describe the translation, deformation, and the rotation of an infinitesimal fluid element. Reformulation of TDDFT in terms of new basic variables resolves the problem of nonlocality and thus allows us to regularly derive a local nonadiabatic approximation for exchange correlation (xc) potential. Stationarity of the density in the comoving frame makes the derivation to a large extent similar to the derivation of the standard static local density approximation. We present a few explicit examples of nonlinear nonadiabatic xc functionals in a form convenient for practical applications.
We propose a memory form of exchange-correlation potential
vXC(r,t) for time-dependent interacting many-particle systems. Unlike previous memory-XC potentials, our
vXC is not limited to the linear response regime. The proposed form of
vXC is a generalized local-density approximation chosen so as to satisfy the nonlinear harmonic potential theorem and Newton's third law. For the case of the inhomogeneous electron gas, we give an explicit prescription for
vXC based solely on an existing parametrization of the linear XC response kernel ${f}_{\mathrm{XC}}^{\mathrm{hom}}(n,\ensuremath{\omega})$ of the uniform gas. Application to quantum wells seems promising.
We address and quantify the role of nonadiabaticity (``memory effects'') in the exchange-correlation (xc) functional of time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) for describing nonlinear dynamics of many-body systems. Time-dependent resonant processes are particularly challenging for available TDDFT approximations, due to their strong nonlinear and nonadiabatic character. None of the known approximate density functionals are able to cope with this class of problems in a satisfactory manner. In this work we look at the prototypical example of the resonant processes by considering Rabi oscillations within the exactly soluble two-site Hubbard model. We construct the exact adiabatic xc functional and show that (i) it does not reproduce correctly resonant Rabi dynamics, and (ii) there is a sizable nonadiabatic contribution to the exact xc potential, which turns out to be small only at the beginning and at the end of the Rabi cycle when the ground-state population is dominant. We then propose a ``two-level'' approximation for the time-dependent xc potential which can capture Rabi dynamics in the two-site problem. It works well both for resonant and for detuned Rabi oscillations and becomes essentially exact in the linear response regime.
A complete understanding of a material requires both knowledge of the excited states as well as of the ground state. In particular, the low energy excitations are of utmost importance while studying the electronic, magnetic, dynamical, and thermodynamical properties of the material. Time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT), within the linear regime, is a successful ab initio method to assess the electronic charge and spin excitations. However, it requires an approximation to the exchange-correlation (XC) kernel which encapsulates the effect of electron-electron interactions in the many-body system. In this work we derive and implement the spin-polarized XC kernel for semilocal approximation, the so-called adiabatic generalized gradient approximation (AGGA). This kernel has a quadratic dependence on the wave vector
q of the perturbation, however the impact of this on the electron energy loss spectra (EELS) is small. We show that the AGGA generally worsens the spin-excitation spectra by overestimating the magnon energies and suppressing the intensity of spin waves.
Time-dependent density-functional theory (TDDFT) treats dynamical exchange and correlation (xc) via a single-particle potential,
Vxc(r,t), defined as a nonlocal functional of the density $n({\mathbf{r}}^{\ensuremath{'}},{t}^{\ensuremath{'}})$. The popular adiabatic local-density approximation (ALDA) for
Vxc(r,t) uses only densities at the same space-time point
(r,t). To go beyond the ALDA, two local approximations have been proposed based on quantum hydrodynamics and elasticity theory: (a) using the current as the basic variable (C-TDDFT) [G. Vignale, C. A. Ullrich, and S. Conti, Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 4847 (1997)], (b) working in a comoving Lagrangian reference frame (L-TDDFT) [I. V. Tokatly, Phys. Rev. B 71, 165105 (2005)]. In this paper we illustrate, compare, and analyze both nonadiabatic theories for simple time-dependent model densities in the linear and nonlinear regime, for a broad range of time and frequency scales. C- and L-TDDFT are identical in certain limits, but, in general, exhibit qualitative and quantitative differences in their respective treatment of elastic and dissipative electron dynamics. In situations where the electronic density rapidly undergoes large deformations, it is found that nonadiabatic effects can become significant, causing the ALDA to break down.