arXiv:cond-mat/0010201 · Physical Review Letters
Simple Analytical Particle and Kinetic Energy Densities for a Dilute Fermionic Gas in a d -Dimensional Harmonic Trap
M. Brack, Brandon P. van Zyl
Abstract
We derive simple analytical expressions for the particle density $\ensuremath{\rho}(r)$ and the kinetic energy density $\ensuremath{\tau}(r)$ for a system of noninteracting fermions in a $d$-dimensional isotropic harmonic oscillator potential. We test the Thomas-Fermi (TF, or local-density) approximation for the functional relation $\ensuremath{\tau}[\ensuremath{\rho}]$ using the exact $\ensuremath{\rho}(r)$ and show that it locally reproduces the exact kinetic energy density $\ensuremath{\tau}(r)$, including the shell oscillations, surprisingly well everywhere except near the classical turning point. For the special case of two dimensions (2D), we obtain the unexpected analytical result that the integral of ${\ensuremath{\tau}}_{\mathrm{TF}}[\ensuremath{\rho}(r)]$ yields the exact total kinetic energy.