We explore the usefulness of a quantum fluid dynamics (QFD) approach for quantitative electronic structure calculations of many-electron systems. By combining QFD and density functional theory, a single time-dependent nonlinear QFD equation can be derived. The equation is further transformed into a diffusion-type form by an imaginary-time evolution method, whose asymptotic solution reaches a global minimum and the many-body ground-state wavefunction. The time-dependent generalized pseudospectral method is extended to solve the diffusion equation in spherical coordinates, allowing optimal and nonuniform spatial discretization and accurate and efficient solution of the diffusion function in space and time. The procedure is applied to the study of electronic energies, densities and other ground-state properties of noble gas atoms (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe). The results are in good agreement with other best available values. The method offers a conceptually appealing and computationally practical procedure for the treatment of many-electron systems beyond the Hartree-Fock level.
We explore the usefulness of a quantum fluid dynamics (QFD) approach for quantitative electronic structure calculations of many-electron systems. By combining QFD and density functional theory, a single time-dependent nonlinear QFD equation can be derived. The equation is further transformed into a diffusion-type form by an imaginary-time evolution method, whose asymptotic solution reaches a global minimum and the many-body ground-state wavefunction. The time-dependent generalized pseudospectral method is extended to solve the diffusion equation in spherical coordinates, allowing optimal and nonuniform spatial discretization and accurate and efficient solution of the diffusion function in space and time. The procedure is applied to the study of electronic energies, densities and other ground-state properties of noble gas atoms (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe). The results are in good agreement with other best available values. The method offers a conceptually appealing and computationally practical procedure for the treatment of many-electron systems beyond the Hartree-Fock level.
This paper considers the practical utility of quantum fluid dynamics (QFD) whereby the time-dependent Schrödinger’s equation is transformed to observing the dynamics of an equivalent “gas continuum.” The density and velocity of this equivalent gas continuum are respectively the probability density and the gradient of the phase of the wave function. The numerical implementation of the QFD equations is carried out within the Lagrangian approach, which transforms the solution of Schrödinger’s equation into following the trajectories of a set of mass points, i.e., subparticles, obtained by discretization of the continuum equations. The quantum dynamics of the subparticles which arise in the present formalism through numerical discretization are coupled by the density and the quantum potential. Numerical illustrations are performed for photodissociation of NOCl and NO2 treated as two-dimensional models. The dissociation cross sections σ(ω) are evaluated in the dramatically short CPU times of 33 s for NOCl and 40 s for NO2 on a Pentium-200 MHz PC machine. The computational efficiency comes from a combination of (a) the QFD representation dealing with the near monotonic amplitude and phase as dependent variables, (b) the Lagrangian description concentrating the computation effort at all times into regions of highest probability as an optimal adaptive grid, and (c) the use of an explicit time integrator whereby the computational effort grows only linearly with the number of discrete points.
This paper proposes a quantum-fluid density-functional theory (an interlinking of quantum-fluid dynamics and density-functional theory) for dealing with molecular collisions, in order to incorporate both time dependence and excited states. Using a new kinetic energy density functional for ion-atom collisions, we have derived a single-particle time-dependent single density equation for many-electron systems. The equation is a new generalized nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation whose solution directly yields the time-dependent charge density, current density, and a pulsating effective potential surface on which the process occurs. The new equation is also derived through Nelson's stochastic interpretation of the single-particle Schr\"odinger equation. A ``thermodynamics'' of the entire time-evolving system is suggested in terms of space- and time-dependent quantities. New algorithms have been devised for solving the above equation in one and two spatial dimensions, in a succession of time steps. Results have been obtained and analyzed in the approach regime for proton-neon high-energy (25-keV) collisions, which permit excitation but not ionization. These results show distinct nonlinear features.
The finite-element discrete variable representation is proposed to express the nonequilibrium Green's function for strongly inhomogeneous quantum systems. This method is highly favorable against a general basis approach with regard to numerical complexity, memory resources, and computation time. Its flexibility also allows for an accurate representation of spatially extended Hamiltonians and thus opens the way toward a direct solution of the two-time Schwinger-Keldysh-Kadanoff-Baym equations on spatial grids, including, for example, the description of highly excited states in atoms. As benchmarks, we compute and characterize, in Hartree-Fock and second Born approximations, the ground states of the He atom, the H2 molecule, and the LiH molecule in one spatial dimension. Thereby, the ground-state and binding energies, densities, and bond lengths are compared with the direct solution of the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation.
We demonstrate the existence of different density-density functionals designed to retain selected properties of the many-body ground state in a noninteracting solution starting from the standard density functional theory ground state. We focus on diffusion quantum Monte Carlo applications that require trial wave functions with optimal Fermion nodes. The theory is extensible and can be used to understand current practices in several electronic structure methods within a generalized density functional framework. The theory justifies and stimulates the search of optimal empirical density functionals and effective potentials for accurate calculations of the properties of real materials, but also cautions on the limits of their applicability. The concepts are tested and validated with a near-analytic model.
Abstract In imaginary-time evolution, the same technique, Crank–Nicolson’s method, as for the analysis of real-time evolution is employed. For the verification using the model oscillators such as quantum well, Morse, and harmonic potentials, practical density functional theory (DFT) calculations are performed for hydrogen atoms and molecules. The convergence is confirmed to be faster under appropriate initial and boundary conditions. The results are consistent with the analytical solutions and those of other DFT calculations. Imaginary-time evolution is quite convenient to subsequent real-time real-space time-dependent DFT calculation. Although the operators are different, similar evolution is adopted. This technique is expected to unify into practical electronic state calculations for the self-consistent electronic structure and system’s response due to perturbation because calculations are in the same framework as the time-dependent equation.
Since the early days of quantum mechanics, the wave function theory has proven to be very successful in describing many different quantum processes and phenomena. However, in many problems of quantum chemistry and solid-state physics, where the dimensionality of the systems studied is relatively high, ab initio calculations of the structure of atoms, molecules, clusters, and crystals, and their interactions are very often prohibitive. Hence, alternative formulations based on the direct use of the probability density, gathered under what is generally known as the density matrix theory [1], were also developed since the very beginning of the new mechanics. The independent electron approximation or Thomas-Fermi model, and the Hartree and Hartree-Fock approaches are former statistical models developed in that direction [2]. These models can be considered direct predecessors of the more recent density functional theory (DFT) [3], whose principles were established by Hohenberg, Kohn, and Sham [4,5] in the mid-1960s. According to this theory, the fundamental physical information about a many-body system is provided by single-particle densities in a three-dimensional space, which are obtained variationally within a time-independent framework. When compared with other previous formalisms, DFT presents two clear advantages: (1) it is able to treat many-body problems in a sufficiently accurate way and (2) it is computationally simple. This explains why it is one of the most widely used theories to deal with electronic structure-the electronic ground-state energy as a function of the position of the atomic nuclei determines molecular structures and solids, providing at the same time the forces acting on the atomic nuclei when they are not at their equilibrium positions. At present, DFT is used routinely to solve many problems in gas phase and condensed matter. Furthermore, it has made possible the development of accurate molecular dynamics schemes in which the forces are evaluated quantum mechanically ‘‘on the fly.’’ Nonetheless, DFT is a fundamental tool provided the systems studied are relatively large; for small systems, standard methods based on the use of the wave function render quite accurate results [6]. Moreover, it is also worth stressing that all practical applications of DFT rely on essentially uncontrolled approximations [7] (e.g., the local density approximation [4,5], the local spin-density approximation, or generalized gradient approximations [8]), and therefore the validity of DFT is conditioned to its capability to provide fairly good values of the experimental data.