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Journal of Mathematical Physics

Density matrices for itinerant and localized electrons with and without external fields

Norman Henry March

Published Apr 1, 1997• 6 citations
Publisher

Abstract

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.

DOI
10.1063/1.532198

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A Tribute to A. John Coleman - The Tame Mathematician.- Reduced Density Matrices: 1929-1989.- Some Aspects on the Development of the Theory of Reduced Density Matrices and the Representability Problem.- Representability Conditions.- On the Diagonal N-Representability Problem.- Fermion N-Representability Conditions Generated by a Decomposition of the 1-Particle Identity Operator onto Mutually Orthogonal Projection Operators.- The Unitarily Invariant Decomposition of Hermitian Operators.- Building Up N-Electron States with Symplectic Symmetry.- Time Dependent Antisymmetrized Geminal Power Theory Using a Coherent State Formulation.- Griffiths Inequalities for Fermion Systems.- Entropy of Reduced Density Matrices.- A Lower Bound to the Ground State Energy of a Boson System With Fermion Source.- Reduced Density Operators, Their Related von Neumann Density Operators, Close Cousins of These, and Their Physical Interpretation.- Theory and Practice of the Spin-Adapted Reduced Hamiltonians (SRH).- Variational Principle with Built-In Pure State N-Representability Conditions. The N-Electron Case.- Wigner Distributions as Representations of the Density Matrix.- Inter-Relationships Between Various Representations of One-Matrices and Related Densities: A Road Map and an Example ..- Current Problems in Density Functional Theory.- The Interface Between Reduced Density Matrices and Density Functional Theory.- The Physics Underlying the Langreth-Mehl Scheme for Non-Uniform Systems.- Understanding Energy Differences in Density Functional Theory.- Density Functional Calculations of Molecular Bond Energies.- Non-Local Effects on Atomic and Molecular Correlation Energies Studied with a Gradient-Corrected Density Functional.- An Evaluation of Local Electron Correlation Corrections and Non-Local Exchange Corrections to the Hartree-Fock-Slater Method from Calculations on Bond Energies and Electronic Spectra of Molecular Systems.- Correlation Energy Functionals of One-Matrices and Hartree-Fock Densities.- Some Remarks on Scaling Relations in Density Functional Theory.- Deduction of Semiempirical MO Methods from Density Functional Theory.- Charge and Spin Densities in Molecular Solids: Local Density Functional Calculations Versus Experiment.- A Functional of the Two-Particle Density Matrix for the Approximate Calculation of the Electronic Correlation Energy.- Extracules, Intracules, Correlation Holes, Potentials, Coefficients and All That.- The Exact Schroedinger Equation for the Electron Density.- Adiabatic Separation, Broken Symmetries and Geometry Optimization.- Asymptotic Results for Density Matrices and Electron Density in Atoms and Nearly Spherical Molecules.- An Algorithm for Calculating Isoelectronic Changes in Energies, Densities, and One-Matrices.- Atoms and Ions in the Limit of Large Nuclear Charge.- Improved Thomas-Fermi Theory for Atoms.- A Bond Energy from Quantum Mechanics.- Measured Electron Densities and Band Structure Calculations.- X-ray Orthonormal Orbital Model for Crystallography.

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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.
Many-electron theory is treated here with much attention focused on the synthesis of the density functional and density matrix theory. This synthesis shows that the exchange–correlation potential, normally obtained as the functional derivative with respect to the electron density of an assumed approximate exchange–correlation energy, can be written exactly in terms of the “near-diagonal” behavior of the fully interacting first-order density matrix and the diagonal of the second-order density matrix, thereby bypassing the functional derivative. Also involved, since the exchange–correlation potential is an “artifact” of reducing the many-electron Schrödinger equation to one-body Slater–Kohn–Sham equations, are the one-body orbitals derived from these latter equations, not just the density thereby obtained. This situation has then motivated a discussion of what constraints are placed on the low-order density matrices of atoms and molecules, described by an assumed spin-independent Hamiltonian, by the requirement that these matrices are constructed from an N-electron wave function which is an eigenfunction of the spin operators S2 and Sz. Some briefer discussion is added on the optimally convergent determinantal expansion of such an N-electron wave function, the relation between Brueckner and Löwdin natural orbitals being commented on as a by-product. In this latter context, it is noted that the exchange-only potential of density functional theory can be represented as a sum of two line integrals, each of which is path-dependent, the sum being, of course, path-independent. But in addition to knowledge of Slater–Kohn–Sham orbitals appearing as in the Harbola–Sahni exchange-only potential (which is one of the path-dependent terms), there is a kinetic correction. This involves Löwdin natural orbitals and their occupation numbers, but only now in the weak coupling limit of the electron–electron interaction, as emphasized in the kinetic “correction” to the Harbola–Sahni formula exhibited by Levy and the writer. Some directions for further work are briefly set out. ©1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 74: 163–176, 1999
The March-Suhai (MS) partial differential equation for the Dirac density matrix ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{s}(\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightharpoonup}}{r},{\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightharpoonup}}{r}}^{\ensuremath{'}})$, proved for one- and two-level occupancies, involves both the ground-state density $n(\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightharpoonup}}{r})$, with its low-order derivatives, and the positive definite kinetic energy density ${t}_{s}(\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightharpoonup}}{r})$. Here, we examine the relation between the equation of motion for ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{s}(\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightharpoonup}}{r},{\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightharpoonup}}{r}}^{\ensuremath{'}})$, with input now being the one-body potential of density-functional theory, and the MS equation. The important link is the differential virial theorem, which can be used to remove ${t}_{s}(\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightharpoonup}}{r})$ from the MS differential equation. For multiple occupancy, the Pauli potential enters in an important manner. In one dimension, however, the appearance of the Pauli potential can be avoided, obtaining a necessary condition for ${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{s}(x,{x}^{\ensuremath{'}})$ to satisfy for arbitrary level occupancy, in the form of a MS-type differential equation.
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.
A Tribute to A. John Coleman - The Tame Mathematician.- Reduced Density Matrices: 1929-1989.- Some Aspects on the Development of the Theory of Reduced Density Matrices and the Representability Problem.- Representability Conditions.- On the Diagonal N-Representability Problem.- Fermion N-Representability Conditions Generated by a Decomposition of the 1-Particle Identity Operator onto Mutually Orthogonal Projection Operators.- The Unitarily Invariant Decomposition of Hermitian Operators.- Building Up N-Electron States with Symplectic Symmetry.- Time Dependent Antisymmetrized Geminal Power Theory Using a Coherent State Formulation.- Griffiths Inequalities for Fermion Systems.- Entropy of Reduced Density Matrices.- A Lower Bound to the Ground State Energy of a Boson System With Fermion Source.- Reduced Density Operators, Their Related von Neumann Density Operators, Close Cousins of These, and Their Physical Interpretation.- Theory and Practice of the Spin-Adapted Reduced Hamiltonians (SRH).- Variational Principle with Built-In Pure State N-Representability Conditions. The N-Electron Case.- Wigner Distributions as Representations of the Density Matrix.- Inter-Relationships Between Various Representations of One-Matrices and Related Densities: A Road Map and an Example ..- Current Problems in Density Functional Theory.- The Interface Between Reduced Density Matrices and Density Functional Theory.- The Physics Underlying the Langreth-Mehl Scheme for Non-Uniform Systems.- Understanding Energy Differences in Density Functional Theory.- Density Functional Calculations of Molecular Bond Energies.- Non-Local Effects on Atomic and Molecular Correlation Energies Studied with a Gradient-Corrected Density Functional.- An Evaluation of Local Electron Correlation Corrections and Non-Local Exchange Corrections to the Hartree-Fock-Slater Method from Calculations on Bond Energies and Electronic Spectra of Molecular Systems.- Correlation Energy Functionals of One-Matrices and Hartree-Fock Densities.- Some Remarks on Scaling Relations in Density Functional Theory.- Deduction of Semiempirical MO Methods from Density Functional Theory.- Charge and Spin Densities in Molecular Solids: Local Density Functional Calculations Versus Experiment.- A Functional of the Two-Particle Density Matrix for the Approximate Calculation of the Electronic Correlation Energy.- Extracules, Intracules, Correlation Holes, Potentials, Coefficients and All That.- The Exact Schroedinger Equation for the Electron Density.- Adiabatic Separation, Broken Symmetries and Geometry Optimization.- Asymptotic Results for Density Matrices and Electron Density in Atoms and Nearly Spherical Molecules.- An Algorithm for Calculating Isoelectronic Changes in Energies, Densities, and One-Matrices.- Atoms and Ions in the Limit of Large Nuclear Charge.- Improved Thomas-Fermi Theory for Atoms.- A Bond Energy from Quantum Mechanics.- Measured Electron Densities and Band Structure Calculations.- X-ray Orthonormal Orbital Model for Crystallography.
Two possible routes are considered to arrive at a one-particle reduced density matrix formulation of electronic structure theory. In the first scheme, an extended Fock matrix H is defined that has twice the dimension of the one-particle basis set. The corresponding Green’s function, defined as the upper left block of (ω1−H)−1, yields the exact one-particle density matrix and energy. The poles of the Green’s function are precisely the ionization potentials and electron affinities of the extended Koopmans theorem. In the second scheme, a generalized Fock equation [F(ρ),ρ]=X is derived that is satisfied by the exact non-idempotent one-particle density matrix. The antisymmetric matrix X on the right-hand side is obtained from the irreducible part of the two-particle reduced density matrix, while F is the usual Fock matrix defined using the correlated one-matrix. The generalized Fock equation is a necessary condition but does not determine ρ uniquely. Alternatively, the one-matrix can be obtained from the irreducible part of the two-matrix directly, using a sum rule. The analysis leads to some additional desiderata and separability properties that may be imposed on traditional wave function based approaches. Possibilities for practical computational schemes are addressed briefly.
The formulation of the density matrix functional theory (DMFT) in which the correlation component U of the electron–electron repulsion energy is expressed in terms of a model two-electron density cumulant matrix (a.k.a. the 2-cumulant) and the tensor of two-electron integrals g is critically analyzed. The dependence of on both the vector of occupation numbers n and g derived from the corresponding vector (1) of natural spinorbitals, and its concomitant invariance to the nature of the spin-independent interparticle interaction potential that enters the definition of g are emphasized. In the case of spin-polarized systems, (and thus U ) is found to be a function of not only n and g, but also of the vector and the matrix, where is the spin-flip operator. The presence of spin polarization imposes additional constraints upon, including a simple condition that, when satisfied, assures the underlying wavefunction being an eigenstate of both the and operators with the eigenvalues and, respectively. This feature allows targeting electronic states with definite multiplicities, which is virtually impossible in the case of the Kohn–Sham implementation of density functional theory. Among the four possible pairing schemes for the natural spinorbitals that give rise to approximations employing with only two independent indices, three are found to result in unphysical constraints even for spin-unpolarized systems, whereas the failure of the fourth one turns out to be precipitated by the presence of spin polarization. Consequently, any implementation of DMFT based upon “two-index” is shown to be generally unsuitable for spin-polarized systems (and incapable of yielding the spin-parallel components of U for the spin-unpolarized ones). A clear distinction is made between the genuine 1-matrix functionals that are defined for arbitrary N -representable 1-matrices and general energy expressions that depend on auxiliary quantities playing the role of fictitious 1-matrices subject to additional (often unphysical) constraints.