We develop an energy density matrix that parallels the one-body reduced density matrix (1RDM) for many-body quantum systems. Just as the density matrix gives access to the number density and occupation numbers, the energy density matrix yields the energy density and orbital occupation energies. The eigenvectors of the matrix provide a natural orbital partitioning of the energy density while the eigenvalues comprise a single-particle energy spectrum obeying a total energy sum rule. For mean-field systems the energy density matrix recovers the exact spectrum. When correlation becomes important, the occupation energies resemble quasiparticle energies in some respects. We explore the occupation energy spectrum for the finite 3D homogeneous electron gas in the metallic regime and an isolated oxygen atom with ground-state quantum Monte Carlo techniques implemented in the qmcpack simulation code. The occupation energy spectrum for the homogeneous electron gas can be described by an effective mass below the Fermi level. Above the Fermi level evanescent behavior in the occupation energies is observed in similar fashion to the occupation numbers of the 1RDM. A direct comparison with total energy differences shows a quantitative connection between the occupation energies and electron addition and removal energies for the electron gas. For the oxygen atom, the association between the ground-state occupation energies and particle addition and removal energies becomes only qualitative. The energy density matrix provides an avenue for describing energetics with quantum Monte Carlo methods which have traditionally been limited to total energies.
We develop an energy density matrix that parallels the one-body reduced density matrix (1RDM) for many-body quantum systems. Just as the density matrix gives access to the number density and occupation numbers, the energy density matrix yields the energy density and orbital occupation energies. The eigenvectors of the matrix provide a natural orbital partitioning of the energy density while the eigenvalues comprise a single-particle energy spectrum obeying a total energy sum rule. For mean-field systems the energy density matrix recovers the exact spectrum. When correlation becomes important, the occupation energies resemble quasiparticle energies in some respects. We explore the occupation energy spectrum for the finite 3D homogeneous electron gas in the metallic regime and an isolated oxygen atom with ground-state quantum Monte Carlo techniques implemented in the qmcpack simulation code. The occupation energy spectrum for the homogeneous electron gas can be described by an effective mass below the Fermi level. Above the Fermi level evanescent behavior in the occupation energies is observed in similar fashion to the occupation numbers of the 1RDM. A direct comparison with total energy differences shows a quantitative connection between the occupation energies and electron addition and removal energies for the electron gas. For the oxygen atom, the association between the ground-state occupation energies and particle addition and removal energies becomes only qualitative. The energy density matrix provides an avenue for describing energetics with quantum Monte Carlo methods which have traditionally been limited to total energies.
Density functional theory is currently the most widely applied method in electronic structure theory. The Kohn-Sham method, based on a fictitious system of non-interacting particles, is the work horse of the theory. The particular form of the Kohn-Sham wavefunction admits only idem-potent one electron density matrices whereas wavefunctions of correlated electrons in post-Hartree-Fock methods invariably have fractional occupation numbers. Here we show that by generalizing the orbital concept, and introducing a suitable dot-product as well as a probability density a non-interacting system can be chosen that can represent the one-electron density matrix of any system, even one with fractional occupation numbers. This fictitious system ensures that the exact electron density is accessible within density functional theory. It can also serve as the basis for reduced density matrix functional theory. Moreover, to aid the analysis of the results the orbitals may be assigned energies from a mean-field Hamiltonian. This produces energy levels that are akin to Hartree-Fock orbital energies such that conventional analyses based on Koopmans theorem are available. Finally, this system is convenient in formalisms that depend on creation and annihilation operators as they are trivially applied to single determinant wavefunctions.
Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) techniques are used to calculate the one-body density matrix and excitation energies for the valence electrons of bulk silicon. The one-body density matrix and energies are obtained from a Slater-Jastrow wave function with a determinant of local-density approximation (LDA) orbitals. The QMC density matrix evaluated in a basis of LDA orbitals is strongly diagonally dominant. The natural orbitals obtained by diagonalizing the QMC density matrix resemble the LDA orbitals very closely. Replacing the determinant of LDA orbitals in the wave function by a determinant of natural orbitals makes no significant difference to the quality of the wave function's nodal surface, leaving the diffusion Monte Carlo energy unchanged. The extended Koopmans's theorem for correlated wave functions is used to calculate excitation energies for silicon, which are in reasonable agreement with the available experimental data. A diagonal approximation to the theorem, evaluated in the basis of LDA orbitals, works quite well for both the quasihole and quasielectron states. We have found that this approximation has an advantageous scaling with system size, allowing more efficient studies of larger systems.
Density-Functional Theory (DFT), although widely used and very successful in the calculation of several observables, fails to correctly describe strongly correlated materials. In the first part of this work we, therefore, introduce reduced-density-matrix-functional theory (RDMFT) which is one possible way to treat electron correlation beyond DFT. Within this theory the one-body reduced density matrix (1-RDM) is used as the basic variable. Our main interest is the calculation of the fundamental gap which proves very problematic within DFT. In order to calculate the fundamental gap we generalize RDMFT to fractional particle numbers M by describing the system as an ensemble of an N and an N+1 particle system (with N≤ M≤N+1). For each fixed particle number, M, the total energy is minimized with respect to the natural orbitals and their occupation numbers. This leads to the total energy as a function of M. The derivative of this function with respect to the particle number has a discontinuity at integer particle number which is identical to the gap. In addition, we investigate the necessary and sufficient conditions for the 1-RDM of a system with fractional particle number to be N-representable. Numerical results are presented for alkali atoms, small molecules, and periodic systems. Another problem within DFT is the description of non-relativistic many- electron systems in the presence of magnetic fields. It requires the paramagnetic current density and the spin magnetization to be used as basic variables besides the electron density. However, electron-gas-based functionals of current-spin-density-functional Theory (CSDFT) exhibit derivative discontinuities as a function of the magnetic field whenever a new Landau level is occupied, which makes them difficult to use in practice. Since the appearance of Landau levels is, intrinsically, an orbital effect it is appealing to use orbital-dependent functionals. We have developed a CSDFT version of the optimized effective potential (OEP) method which allows for the use of explicitly orbital-dependent functionals in the context of CSDFT. We present the derivation of corresponding equations and show results for a quantum dot in external magnetic fields in the second part of this thesis.
The recently developed density matrix quantum Monte Carlo (DMQMC) algorithm stochastically samples the N-body thermal density matrix and hence provides access to exact properties of many-particle quantum systems at arbitrary temperatures. We demonstrate that moving to the interaction picture provides substantial benefits when applying DMQMC to interacting fermions. In this first study, we focus on a system of much recent interest: the uniform electron gas in the warm dense regime. The basis set incompleteness error at finite temperature is investigated and extrapolated via a simple Monte Carlo sampling procedure. Finally, we provide benchmark calculations for a four-electron system, comparing our results to previous work where possible.
Motivated by the realization of hard-wall boundary conditions in experiments with ultracold atoms, we investigate the ground-state properties of spin-1/2 fermions with attractive interactions in a one-dimensional box.We use lattice Monte Carlo methods to determine essential quantities like the energy, which we compute as a function of coupling strength and particle number in the regime from few to many particles.Many-fermion systems bound by hard walls display non-trivial density profiles characterized by so-called Friedel oscillations (which are similar to those observed in harmonic traps).In non-interacting systems, the characteristic length scale of the oscillations is set by (2k F ) -1 , where k F is the Fermi momentum, while repulsive interactions tend to generate Wignercrystal oscillations of period (4k F ) -1 .Based on the non-interacting result, we find a remarkably simple parametrization of the density profiles of the attractively interacting case, which we generalize to the one-body density matrix.While the total momentum is not a conserved quantity in the presence of hard walls, the magnitude of the momentum does provide a good quantum number.We are therefore able to provide a detailed characterization of the (quasi-)momentum distribution, which displays rather robust discontinuity at the Fermi surface.In addition, we determine the spatially varying on-site density-density correlation, which in turn yields Tan's contact density and, upon integration, Tan's contact.As is well known, the latter fully determines the short-range correlations and plays a crucial role in a multitude of equilibrium and non-equilibrium sum rules.
Abstract Motivated by the realization of hard-wall boundary conditions in experiments with ultracold atoms, we investigate the ground-state properties of spin-1/2 fermions with attractive interactions in a one-dimensional box. We use lattice Monte Carlo methods to determine essential quantities like the energy, which we compute as a function of coupling strength and particle number in the regime from few to many particles. Many-fermion systems bound by hard walls display non-trivial density profiles characterized by so-called Friedel oscillations (which are similar to those observed in harmonic traps). In non-interacting systems, the characteristic length scale of the oscillations is set by ( 2 k F ) − 1 , where k F is the Fermi momentum, while repulsive interactions tend to generate Wigner-crystal oscillations of period ( 4 k F ) − 1 . Based on the non-interacting result, we find a remarkably simple parametrization of the density profiles of the attractively interacting case, which we generalize to the one-body density matrix. While the total momentum is not a conserved quantity in the presence of hard walls, the magnitude of the momentum does provide a good quantum number. We are therefore able to provide a detailed characterization of the (quasi-)momentum distribution, which displays rather robust discontinuity at the Fermi surface. In addition, we determine the spatially varying on-site density–density correlation, which in turn yields Tan’s contact density and, upon integration, Tan’s contact. As is well known, the latter fully determines the short-range correlations and plays a crucial role in a multitude of equilibrium and non-equilibrium sum rules.