Participant talk: The potential of Potential Functional Theory

Attila Cangi
Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics
Theory

Potential-functional theory is an intriguing alternative to density-functional theory for solving electronic-structure problems. I will introduce the concept of potential functionals, derive equations using interacting potential functionals, and illustrate these general results for a meaningful example in one dimension. I will show that a semiclassical approximation to exchange is found to be almost exact compared to standard density-functional approximations, and demonstrate its far greater accuracy
relative to the local-density approximation.

In a pedagogical attempt I will connect to fundamental topics covered in the lectures (in particular, on Hohenberg-Kohn theorems, Kohn-Sham equations, local-density approximation, and density matrices and holes) and illustrate how these concepts are applied in a research context.

Presentation (PDF File)

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