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The Journal of Chemical Physics

Uniform semiclassical approximation to the electron density distribution

Soo Yong Lee, J. C. Light

Published Dec 15, 1975• 10 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The single particle reduced density matrices for fermions in a linear potential in one and three dimensions are derived. An idempotent reduced density matrix for a nonuniform field with a single turning point is obtained. The density expression contains the contributions from the direct path and the path with one turning point. When applied to a potential well the corrections from the long-time paths are taken from the theory of Light and Yuan. Only classical quantities of momentum, time, and action enter in the final expression. The density distribution for the nonclassical region is more accurate than that given by the formula of Light and Yuan.

DOI
10.1063/1.431327

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The Journal of Chemical Physics•Mar 1, 1990•3 citations
The single particle reduced density matrices for fermions in a linear potential in one and three dimensions are derived. An idempotent reduced density matrix for a nonuniform field with a single turning point is obtained. The density expression contains the contributions from the direct path and the path with one turning point. When applied to a potential well the corrections from the long-time paths are taken from the theory of Light and Yuan. Only classical quantities of momentum, time, and action enter in the final expression. The density distribution for the nonclassical region is more accurate than that given by the formula of Light and Yuan.
A new approach has been used to determine directly the reduced single particle density matrix for noninteracting fermions in a one-dimensional potential. A time evolution operator closely related to the classical limit of the Feynman path integral propagator is derived which has superior behavior in turning point and nonclassical regions. This is used to determine the reduced density matrix in terms of the phase and time of oscillation at the Fermi energy. The density so obtained has the correct quantum oscillations and nonclassical tails and is a distinct improvement over the Thomas-Fermi density. Two simple examples are presented and implications for electronic structure calculations are discussed.
Using an analytic approximation to the quantum momentum previously derived to calculate single particle reduced density matrices in the semiclassical approximation, we have been able to construct equations of motion with which to perform trajectory calculations. Information calculated along these trajectories is used to calculate single particle reduced density matrices for one-dimensional systems. Charge densities for N fermions in a harmonic oscillator potential calculated using this quantum momentum approximation are in excellent agreement with the exact quantum mechanical calculations.
Quantum corrections are obtained for the single-particle density matrix in a semiclassical ensemble where the distribution is unrestricted. A form for the density matrix containing explicitly a function of the wave-mechanical Hamiltonian operator is devised; a formalism is then developed to decompose this operator function into effectively classical and nonclassical parts. The classical part corresponds to the semiclassical density matrix and the quantum corrections are obtained from the nonclassical terms.The quantum-corrected density matrix for a spherically symmetrical and a one-dimensional system have been evaluated. The densities for a linear harmonic oscillator and a Coulomb potential for a Fermi-Dirac distribution have also been examined in some detail.
Forms of canonical (Bloch) and Dirac density matrices for free electrons with and without external applied fields are first considered. The basic tool employed is the Bloch equation with a one-electron Hamiltonian. Such an approach is used to obtain a perturbation theory to all orders for the idempotent Dirac density matrix when a common potential energy V(r) is switched on to originally free electrons. The relation to density functional theory is then considered and the exchange–correlation contribution Vxc(r) to V(r) is expressed in terms of first- and second-order density matrices following Holas and March. These latter density matrices are now for the fully interacting system and, in particular, the first-order density matrix is no longer idempotent, though it must still satisfy generalized Pauli Principle conditions. Reference is also made to a localized Wigner electron in a strong magnetic field.
Projection operators may be used instead of vectors to represent the states of a quantum-mechanical system and the appropriate equation of motion is obtained. When a basis is used the basic vectors may be oblique or orthogonal. A formulation appropriate to an oblique basis is developed with the help of tensor methods and the summation convention. This is generalized to be applicable to systems containing NNN electrons subject to Pauli's exclusion principle. The projection operator corresponding to an arbitrary state is the density operator and is represented by an NthN\mathrm{th}Nth-order tensor. The well-known tensor operation of contraction of indices applied to the density operator furnishes similar, reduced operators giving one-, two-, or more-particle properties of the system. The one-particle properties are of special interest in chemical systems, the corresponding reduced density matrix being called the charge and bond order matrix by L\"owdin. The full formulas for the reduction of the general density matrix are given, showing the origin of the Coulomb and exchange operators.When the symbolic equation of motion is expressed by means of components and the process of contraction (reduction) is applied, the equation of motion of the one-particle reduction is obtained as well as an expression for the energy of the system. In the special case of the Hartree-Fock approximation the time-dependent wave equations for the one-particle orbitals are shown to satisfy the general equation of motion, suggesting that the energies of the individual orbitals need not be stationary. This approximation is characterized by the idempotent property of the one-particle reduced density matrix. This condition alone leads to a close restriction on the possible values of the charge and bond orders of a molecule. Specific formulas for the molecule butadiene show that these can be expressed in terms of two parameters only, in this case.
Using an integral expression which is based on the use of discretized path integrals, the one-particle density matrix is evaluated for individual fermions in a one- and three-dimensional harmonic well. In this regard, the present paper improves and extends work previously done by Handler. By deriving a closed form expression for the path integral with finite discretization, the density is expressed as a one-dimensional integral that can be evaluated numerically. In addition, the trace of this density matrix, which corresponds to the number of particles present as a function of the Fermi energy, is evaluated in closed form. For finite discretization, the function is continuous in the Fermi energy, but approaches the correct discontinuous limit as the discretization becomes large. Oscillations are observed at the discontinuities analogous to the Gibbs phenomenon of Fourier analysis. Calculations of the density show a marked improvement in the classically allowed region when the discretization is only one level beyond the simple Thomas–Fermi theory. The density also penetrates into the classically forbidden region as the discretization is increased, but the presence of negative oscillations requires a higher level of discretization for a proper description in this region.