Green's function calculations of ground-state correlation energies

J. Schirmer, Giuliana Angonoa

The necessity to determine the static self-energy part Σ(∞) in many-body Green’s function studies of atomic and molecular ionization introduces difficulties affecting both the accuracy and the efficiency of the method. We show how this bottleneck can be overcome under an approximation obtained by truncating the Dyson expansion for the one-particle Green’s function G(ω). Here the essential computational step consists of an inversion or a Lanczos diagonalization of constant Hermitian secular matrices associated with the dynamical self-energy part M(ω). Both methods are very practical and efficient as is demonstrated in an exemplary application to the CO molecule. The same approximation and numerical techniques apply also to the problem of extracting ground state information from G(ω), i.e., correlation energy and expectation values of single-particle operators.

K. W. Becker, Peter Fulde

Steven Crisostomo, Eberhard K. U. Gross, Kieron Burke

Density-functional theory (DFT) calculations yield useful ground-state energies and densities, while Green's function techniques (such as GW) are mostly used to produce spectral functions. From the Galitskii-Migdal formula, we extract the exchange correlation of DFT directly from a Green's function. This spectral representation provides an alternative to the fluctuation-dissipation theorem of DFT, identifying distinct single-particle and many-particle contributions. Results are illustrated on the uniform electron gas and the two-site Hubbard model.

F. Aryasetiawan, O. Gunnarsson

Calculations of ground-state and excited-state properties of materials have been one of the major goals of condensed matter physics. Ground-state properties of solids have been extensively investigated for several decades within the standard density functional theory. Excited-state properties, on the other hand, were relatively unexplored in ab initio calculations until a decade ago. The most suitable approach up to now for studying excited-state properties of extended systems is the Green function method. To calculate the Green function one requires the self-energy operator which is non-local and energy dependent. In this article we describe the GW approximation which has turned out to be a fruitful approximation to the self-energy. The Green function theory, numerical methods for carrying out the self-energy calculations, simplified schemes, and applications to various systems are described. Self-consistency issue and new developments beyond the GW approximation are also discussed as well as the success and shortcomings of the GW approximation.

Norman Henry March