The correlation energy of an inhomogeneous electron gas is ruled by the density correlation function
L. It obeys a Bethe-Salpeter equation (BSE), whose kernel is the functional derivative of the particle self-energy. It is solved on equal footing for two-particle and single-particle Green's functions within Hedin's GW approximation. According to the Hartree and exchange-correlation contributions to the kernel, the correlation expression decays into random-phase-approximation (RPA) -like and screened-exchange-like parts. The actual treatment of the screened potential
W in the BSE for
L leads to different second-order screened exchange corrections (SOSEX). Including correlation in the kernel even yields approximations beyond SOSEX. The progress beyond RPA is illustrated for spinless and spin-polarized homogeneous electron gases, indicating that the screening treatment is substantial.
Besides the proof of a modified Luttinger–Ward–Klein variational principle and a related self-consistency idea, there is not much new in principle in this paper. L. Hedin, Phys. Rev . 139, A796–823 (1965) Summary In this chapter a set of equations is formulated that determine the self-energy and the one-body Green's function in terms of the screened Coulomb interaction between classical charges. The equations contain a correction to the classical picture in terms of a vertex function. The physical meaning of the various contributions is discussed. The simplest approximation for the vertex yields the random phase approximation for the polarizability and the GW approximation for the self-energy. Various aspects of the GWA are analyzed, with a focus on the physics that is added beyond Hartree– Fock. A brief summary of model cases illustrates the domain of validity and the limits of the GWA. In this chapter we elaborate in more detail on the question of how to calculate the onebody Green's function from a Dyson equation with a self-energy kernel. In the previous chapter a scheme was introduced to design approximations to the self-energy. However, the question of where to stop, which pieces of physics to include and which to neglect, is not yet settled. Of course, there is no unique answer, besides the exact solution, but different strategies can be more or less advantageous in practice. In a system with a few electrons, for example, different aspects will be important than in a system with many electrons. Here we are mostly interested in solids, or more generally in extended systems. In such systems, screening plays an essential role: the interaction between two charges is strongly modified, in general reduced, by the rearrangement of all the other charges. It is therefore most convenient to reformulate the equations such that screening appears explicitly. Some steps in this direction can be found in earlier chapters, in particular in Sec. 8.3, the formulation of the Ψ [ G , W ]-functional of the screened interaction W instead of the Ф[ G , v c ]-functional of the bare v c . In Sec. 10.5 the screened interaction approximation for the self-energy is derived, with the self-energy as a product of the one-body Green's function and the screened interaction W .
We have evaluated the density-density response of the two-dimensional electron gas at zero temperature by solving the Dyson equation for the particle-hole Green's function, including exchange Coulomb matrix elements and short-range contributions in the ladder approximation. We study the effect of these correlations on the total energy, compressibility per particle, local field factor G ( q ), static structure factor and pair-correlation function. Results are compared with the normal random-phase approximation, local field theories and quantum Monte Carlo calculations.
It is well known that the second-order ground-state correlation energy calculated in the usual random-phase approximation (RPA) is off by a factor of 2. It has also been noted that there is a factor-of-2 discrepancy in the correlation corrections to the Hartree-Fock occupation probabilities. The reason for these phenomena is traced to the treatment of the exchange terms in the interaction matrix element. An illustration based on a simple single multipole interaction shows that the factor of 2 arises from a coherent sum of small higher-order terms. Results based on the consideration of one or a few eigenmodes at a time are seen to be free of this difficulty. The correlation energy, occupation-probability corrections, and equations of motion are reexamined in the Beliaev-Zelevinsky boson expansion, as an illustration of clearly defined higher-order treatments.
The random phase approximation (RPA) builds in correlations left out by mean-field theory. In full $0\ensuremath{\Elzxh}\ensuremath{\omega}$ shell-model spaces we calculate the Hartree-Fock
(HF)+RPA binding energy, and compare it to exact diagonalization. We find that often, but not always, the
HF+RPA gives a good approximation to the ``exact'' ground state energy. In those cases where the RPA is less satisfactory, however, there is no obvious correlation with properties of the HF state, such as deformation or overlap with the exact ground state wave function. This weakens the reliability of the RPA for computing binding energies.
In describing transport phenomena, it is vital to build the conservation laws of number, energy, momentum, and angular momentum into the structure of the approximation used to determine the thermodynamic many-particle Green's functions. A method for generating conserving approximations has been developed. This method is based on a consideration, at finite temperature, of the equations of motion obeyed by the one-particle propagator
G, defined in the presence of a nonlocal external scalar field
U. Approximations for
G(U) are obtained by replacing the
G2(U) which appears in these equations by various functionals of
G(U). If the approximation for
G2(U) satisfies certain simple symmetry conditions, then the
G(U) thus defined obeys all the conservation laws. Furthermore, the two-particle correlation function, generated as ${(\frac{\ensuremath{\delta}G}{\ensuremath{\delta}U})}_{U=0}\ensuremath{\equiv}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}L$, in terms of which all linear transport can be described, will obey all the conservation laws as well as several essential sum rules, such as the longitudinal
f-sum rule.Several examples of conserving approximations are described. The Hartree approximation,
G2(U)=G(U)G(U), generates the random-phase approximation for
L. The Hartree-Fock approximation for
G(U) leads to a natural generalization of the random-phase approximation in which hole-particle ladder diagrams are summed. Another conserving approximation for
G(U) is obtained by expanding the self-energy to first order in the many-particle scattering matrix
T(U). This
T is obtained by summing ladder diagrams in which the sides of the ladder are composed of
G(U)′s. The resulting
L equation, which involves coefficients proportional to
∣T∣2, is analogous to the linearized version of the usual Boltzmann equation. Finally, in order to obtain a description of collisions in a plasma, the self-energy is expanded to first order in a dynamically shielded potential,
Vs(U). This potential is obtained by summing bubbles composed of two
G(U)′s. The resulting
L equation is similar in structure to a Boltzmann equation in which the collision cross section is proportional to
∣Vs∣2.