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Physical Review A

Density- and spin-density-functional theories through spin-free wave functions

Federico E. Zahariev, Mel Levy

Published Dec 13, 2019• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

It is proven that entirely spin-free wave functions can be utilized in the basic definitions of the universal functionals in density-functional theory and spin-density-functional theory. Then, for the purpose of approximating these functionals, it is shown that the knowledge of certain properties of the functionals, such as those involving the coordinate scaling of just one of the spin densities, is made feasible precisely because the wave functions in the functional definitions are free of explicit spins. Among the examples, a conjectured spin-density scaling relation for the correlation energy is studied.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.100.062507

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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

International Journal of Quantum Chemistry•Jan 1, 1999•2 citations
It is proven that entirely spin-free wave functions can be utilized in the basic definitions of the universal functionals in density-functional theory and spin-density-functional theory. Then, for the purpose of approximating these functionals, it is shown that the knowledge of certain properties of the functionals, such as those involving the coordinate scaling of just one of the spin densities, is made feasible precisely because the wave functions in the functional definitions are free of explicit spins. Among the examples, a conjectured spin-density scaling relation for the correlation energy is studied.
It has recently been shown how to replace spin-wave functions with purely spatial wave functions in the formulation of spin-density functional theory (SDFT), without any change to the resultant density functional expressions [F. Zahariev and M. Levy, Phys. Rev. A 100, 062507 (2019)]. The purely spatial wave functions that are obtained are much more convenient to use and thus allow for a relatively easy decomposition and manipulation of terms in the constrained-search formulation of SDFT. All the essential ingredients of SDFT, including the kinetic, exchange, and correlation contributions, are explicitly defined in terms of the universal functional expressed in this spin-free manner. Constrained-search derivations of the Oliver-Perdew relations for the kinetic and exchange terms are presented. The up-down spin component of the correlation term is found to contain the up-down spin component of the Hartree term. A spin-dependent generalization of the adiabatic connection is put forth and a connection with spin-dependent coordinate scaling is established for the correlation energy.
We analyze the ground-state energy and correlation energy of the Heisenberg model as a function of spin, both in the ferromagnetic and the antiferromagnetic case, and in one, two and three dimensions. First, we present a comparative analysis of known expressions for the ground-state energy E0(S){E}_{0}(S)E0​(S) of homogeneous Heisenberg models. In the one-dimensional antiferromagnetic case we propose an improved expression for E0(S),{E}_{0}(S),E0​(S), which takes into account Bethe-ansatz data for S=1/2.S=1/2.S=1/2. Next, we consider inhomogeneous Heisenberg models (e.g., exposed to spatially varying external fields). We prove a Hohenberg-Kohn-like theorem stating that in this case the ground-state energy is a functional of the spin distribution and that this distribution encapsulates the entire physics of the system, regardless of the external fields. Building on this theorem, we then propose a local-density-type approximation that allows us to utilize the results obtained for homogeneous systems in inhomogeneous situations too. We conjecture a scaling law for the dependence of the correlation functional on dimensionality, which is well satisfied by existing numerical data. Finally, we investigate the importance of the spin-correlation energy by comparing results obtained with the proposed correlation functional to ones from an uncorrelated mean-field calculation, taking as our example a linear spin-density wave state.
An extension of density-functional theory, designed to treat spin-density waves and antiferromagnetic systems, is presented. The nonlocal nature of the antiferromagnetic correlations and possible noncollinearity in spin space are incorporated via an additional fundamental variable, the staggered density, which supplements the spin densities of conventional density-functional theory. Inclusion of this variable is justified by both physical and methodological considerations. We prove the corresponding Hohenberg-Kohn theorem, derive the pertinent Kohn-Sham equations, and present several approximate functionals depending explicitly on the staggered density. As a first test the formalism is applied to two simple model systems, a one-dimensional electron gas with a short-range interaction, and the three-dimensional electron gas with Coulomb interactions. These calculations serve to test the developed formalism, but also already allow us to draw a number of conclusions regarding the stability and nature of possible spin-density wave states in homogeneous electron systems.
Abstract Recently a novel approach to find approximate exchange–correlation functionals in density-functional theory was presented (Mordovina et al 2019 J. Chem. Theory Comput. 15 5209), which relies on approximations to the interacting wave function using density-matrix embedding theory (DMET). This approximate interacting wave function is constructed by using a projection determined by an iterative procedure that makes parts of the reduced density matrix of an auxiliary system the same as the approximate interacting density matrix. If only the diagonal of both systems are connected this leads to an approximation of the interacting-to-non-interacting mapping of the Kohn–Sham approach to density-functional theory. Yet other choices are possible and allow to connect DMET with other density-functional theories such as kinetic-energy density functional theory or reduced density-matrix functional theory. In this work we give a detailed review of the basics of the DMET procedure from a density-functional perspective and show how both approaches can be used to supplement each other. We do not present a specific realization of combining density-functional methods with DMET but rather provide common grounds to facilitate future developments that encompass both approaches. We do so explicitly for the case of a one-dimensional lattice system, as this is the simplest setting where we can apply DMET and the one that was originally presented. Among others we highlight how the mappings of density-functional theories can be used to identify uniquely defined auxiliary systems and projections in DMET and how to construct approximations for different density-functional theories using DMET inspired projections. Such alternative approximation strategies become especially important for density-functional theories that are based on non-linearly coupled observables such as kinetic-energy density-functional theory, where the Kohn–Sham fields are no longer obtainable by functional differentiation of an energy expression, or for reduced density-matrix functional theories, where a straightforward Kohn–Sham construction is not feasible.
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