The logical structure and basic theorems of time-dependent current density functional theory (TDCDFT) are analyzed and reconsidered from the point of view of recently proposed time-dependent deformation functional theory (TDDefFT). It is shown that the formalism of TDDefFT allows to avoid a traditional external potential-to-density/current mapping. Instead the theory is formulated in a form similar to the constrained search procedure in the ground state DFT. Within this formulation of TDCDFT all basic functionals appear from the solution of a constrained universal many-body problem in a comoving reference frame, which is equivalent to finding a conditional extremum of a certain universal action functional. As a result the physical origin of the universal functionals entering the theory, as well as their proper causal structure become obvious. In particular, this leaves no room for any doubt concerning the predictive power of the theory.
The logical structure and basic theorems of time-dependent current density functional theory (TDCDFT) are analyzed and reconsidered from the point of view of recently proposed time-dependent deformation functional theory (TDDefFT). It is shown that the formalism of TDDefFT allows to avoid a traditional external potential-to-density/current mapping. Instead the theory is formulated in a form similar to the constrained search procedure in the ground state DFT. Within this formulation of TDCDFT all basic functionals appear from the solution of a constrained universal many-body problem in a comoving reference frame, which is equivalent to finding a conditional extremum of a certain universal action functional. As a result the physical origin of the universal functionals entering the theory, as well as their proper causal structure become obvious. In particular, this leaves no room for any doubt concerning the predictive power of the theory.
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.
A rigorous formulation of time-dependent current density functional theory (TDCDFT) on a lattice is presented. The density-to-potential mapping and the V-representability problems are reduced to a solution of a certain nonlinear lattice Schr\"odinger equation, to which the standard existence and uniqueness results for nonlinear differential equations are applicable. For two versions of the lattice TDCDFT, we prove that any continuous-in-time current density is locally V-representable (both interacting and noninteracting), provided that in the initial state the local kinetic energy is nonzero everywhere. In most cases of physical interest, the V-representability should also hold globally in time. These results put the application of TDCDFT to any lattice model on a firm foundation, and pave the way for studying exact properties of exchange-correlation potentials.
We present a constructive derivation of a time-dependent deformation functional theory---a collective variable approach to the nonequilibrium quantum many-body problem. It is shown that the motion of infinitesimal fluid elements (i.e., a set of Lagrangian trajectories) in an interacting quantum system is governed by a closed hydrodynamics equation with the stress force being a universal functional of Green's deformation tensor gij. Since the Lagrangian trajectories uniquely determine the current density, this approach can be also viewed as a representation of the time-dependent current-density functional theory. To derive the above theory, we separate a ``convective'' and a ``relative'' motions of particles by reformulating the many-body problem in a comoving Lagrangian frame. Then, we prove that a properly defined many-body wave function (and thus any observable) in the comoving frame is a universal functional of the deformation tensor. Both the hydrodynamic and the Kohn-Sham formulations of the theory are presented. In the Kohn-Sham formulation, we derive a few exact representations of the exchange-correlation potentials, and discuss their implication for construction of nonadiabatic approximations. We also discuss a relation of the present approach to a recent continuum mechanics of the incompressible quantum Hall liquids.
The dynamics of a many-body system coupled to an external environment represents a fundamentally important problem. To this class of open quantum systems pertains the study of energy transport and dissipation, dephasing, quantum measurement and quantum information theory, phase transitions driven by dissipative effects, etc. Here, we discuss in detail an extension of time-dependent current-density-functional theory (TDCDFT), we named stochastic TDCDFT [Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 226403 (2007)], which allows the description of such problems from a microscopic point of view. We discuss the assumptions of the theory, its relation to a density-matrix formalism, and the limitations of the latter in the present context. In addition, we describe a numerically convenient way to solve the corresponding equations of motion and apply this theory to the dynamics of a one-dimensional gas of excited bosons confined in a harmonic potential and in contact with an external bath.
The formally exact expression of the exchange-correlation potential in the local-scaling density functional theory (LSDFT) was derived recently by the author, and it is equivalent to that of Holas and March. The basic equation of the LS-DFT was also derived, and it is equivalent to the differential virial theorem (DVT). The LS-DFT has been extended to the local-scaling current density functional theory (LS-CDFT). This has been compared with the formulation of Holas and March. In this note, the LS-CDFT is extended to the timedependent system; i.e., the local-scaling time-dependent current density functional theory (LS-TDCDFT) is formulated. As a straightforward extension of ref. 3, the density and the paramagnetic current density jp are adopted as the basic variables, which is the same procedure used by Colwell et al. It is explicitly shown that the time-dependent exchange-correlation scalar potential vxc and the vector one Axc are same functionals of firstand second-order density matrices as those of the time-independent case, while the total effective potentials are not so. The equation of motion of jp provides the DVT for the time-dependent system in the magnetic field. The time-dependent term of the DVT is equal to that of the nonmagnetic time-dependent system. Throughout the entire formulation, the notation of the tensor product is suppressed. Here, an N-electron system in an external scalar potential vextðr; tÞ, an external vector potential Aextðr; tÞ, and an interaction potential uðr; r0Þ 1⁄4 =jr r0j is considered, where is the coupling constant treated as a variable parameter. In a time-independent theory, the quantity to be minimized is the energy. But in the time-dependent case, the action S plays the role:
This chapter discusses time-dependent current-density-functional theory (TDCDFT). It first asks under what circumstances one should choose the current density as basic variable, instead of the particle density. There are several reasons: a current-based formulation is more suitable for constructing functionals beyond the adiabatic approximation. Furthermore, the current is the natural variable to describe coupling to electromagnetic fields and vector potentials. The basic existence theorems of TDCDFT are proved, and several exact properties and the linear-response regime are discussed. The second half of the chapter deals with the so-called Vignale-Kohn functional, which is a local and frequency-dependent approximation to the exchange-correlation vector potential. The Vignale-Kohn functional is expressed in terms of viscoelastic stresses in the electron liquid. Several applications in the linear-response regime and in real time are presented. The Vignale-Kohn functional works well for describing dissipative effects in collective, plasmon-like electron dynamics.