68 research outputs found
Tractable non-local correlation density functionals for flat surfaces and slabs
A systematic approach for the construction of a density functional for van
der Waals interactions that also accounts for saturation effects is described,
i.e. one that is applicable at short distances. A very efficient method to
calculate the resulting expressions in the case of flat surfaces, a method
leading to an order reduction in computational complexity, is presented.
Results for the interaction of two parallel jellium slabs are shown to agree
with those of a recent RPA calculation (J.F. Dobson and J. Wang, Phys. Rev.
Lett. 82, 2123 1999). The method is easy to use; its input consists of the
electron density of the system, and we show that it can be successfully
approximated by the electron densities of the interacting fragments. Results
for the surface correlation energy of jellium compare very well with those of
other studies. The correlation-interaction energy between two parallel jellia
is calculated for all separations d, and substantial saturation effects are
predicted.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
Effective action and density functional theory
The effective action for the charge density and the photon field is proposed
as a generalization of the density functional. A simple definition is given for
the density functional, as the functional Legendre transform of the generator
functional of connected Green functions for the density and the photon field,
offering systematic approximation schemes. The leading order of the
perturbation expansion reproduces the Hartree-Fock equation. A renormalization
group motivated method is introduced to turn on the Coulomb interaction
gradually and to find corrections to the Hartree-Fock and the Kohn-Sham
schemes.Comment: New references and a numerical algorithm added, to appear in Phys.
Rev. B. 30 pages, no figure
Two-dimensional limit of exchange-correlation energy functional approximations in density functional theory
We investigate the behavior of three-dimensional (3D) exchange-correlation
energy functional approximations of density functional theory in anisotropic
systems with two-dimensional (2D) character. Using two simple models, quasi-2D
electron gas and two-electron quantum dot, we show a {\it fundamental
limitation} of the local density approximation (LDA), and its semi-local
extensions, generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and meta-GGA (MGGA), the
most widely used forms of which are worse than the LDA in the strong 2D limit.
The origin of these shortcomings is in the inability of the local (LDA) and
semi-local (GGA/MGGA) approximations to describe systems with 2D character in
which the nature of the exchange-correlation hole is very nonlocal. Nonlocal
functionals provide an alternative approach, and explicitly the average density
approximation (ADA) is shown to be remarkably accurate for the quasi-2D
electron gas system. Our study is not only relevant for understanding of the
functionals but also practical applications to semiconductor quantum structures
and materials such as graphite and metal surfaces. We also comment on the
implication of our findings to the practical device simulations based on the
(semi-)local density functional method.Comment: 21 pages including 9 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.
Comparative study of density functional theories of the exchange-correlation hole and energy in silicon
We present a detailed study of the exchange-correlation hole and
exchange-correlation energy per particle in the Si crystal as calculated by the
Variational Monte Carlo method and predicted by various density functional
models. Nonlocal density averaging methods prove to be successful in correcting
severe errors in the local density approximation (LDA) at low densities where
the density changes dramatically over the correlation length of the LDA hole,
but fail to provide systematic improvements at higher densities where the
effects of density inhomogeneity are more subtle. Exchange and correlation
considered separately show a sensitivity to the nonlocal semiconductor crystal
environment, particularly within the Si bond, which is not predicted by the
nonlocal approaches based on density averaging. The exchange hole is well
described by a bonding orbital picture, while the correlation hole has a
significant component due to the polarization of the nearby bonds, which
partially screens out the anisotropy in the exchange hole.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, RevTeX, added conten
Phase transitions in two-dimensional anisotropic quantum magnets
We consider quantum Heisenberg ferro- and antiferromagnets on the square
lattice with exchange anisotropy of easy-plane or easy-axis type. The
thermodynamics and the critical behaviour of the models are studied by the
pure-quantum self-consistent harmonic approximation, in order to evaluate the
spin and anisotropy dependence of the critical temperatures. Results for
thermodynamic quantities are reported and comparison with experimental and
numerical simulation data is made. The obtained results allow us to draw a
general picture of the subject and, in particular, to estimate the value of the
critical temperature for any model belonging to the considered class.Comment: To be published on Eur. Phys. J.
Metal Surface Energy: Persistent Cancellation of Short-Range Correlation Effects beyond the Random-Phase Approximation
The role that non-local short-range correlation plays at metal surfaces is
investigated by analyzing the correlation surface energy into contributions
from dynamical density fluctuations of various two-dimensional wave vectors.
Although short-range correlation is known to yield considerable correction to
the ground-state energy of both uniform and non-uniform systems, short-range
correlation effects on intermediate and short-wavelength contributions to the
surface formation energy are found to compensate one another. As a result, our
calculated surface energies, which are based on a non-local
exchange-correlation kernel that provides accurate total energies of a uniform
electron gas, are found to be very close to those obtained in the random-phase
approximation and support the conclusion that the error introduced by the
local-density approximation is small.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Spin diffusion at finite electric and magnetic fields
Spin transport properties at finite electric and magnetic fields are studied
by using the generalized semiclassical Boltzmann equation. It is found that the
spin diffusion equation for non-equilibrium spin density and spin currents
involves a number of length scales that explicitly depend on the electric and
magnetic fields. The set of macroscopic equations can be used to address a
broad range of the spin transport problems in magnetic multilayers as well as
in semiconductor heterostructure. A specific example of spin injection into
semiconductors at arbitrary electric and magnetic fields is illustrated
Correlation energies of inhomogeneous many-electron systems
We generalize the uniform-gas correlation energy formalism of Singwi, Tosi,
Land and Sjolander to the case of an arbitrary inhomogeneous many-particle
system. For jellium slabs of finite thickness with a self-consistent LDA
groundstate Kohn-Sham potential as input, our numerical results for the
correlation energy agree well with diffusion Monte Carlo results. For a helium
atom we also obtain a good correlation energy.Comment: 4 pages,1 figur
Effects of nonorthogonality in the time-dependent current through tunnel junctions
A theoretical technique which allows to include contributions from
non-orthogonality of the electron states in the leads connected to a tunneling
junction is derived. The theory is applied to a single barrier tunneling
structure and a simple expression for the time-dependent tunneling current is
derived showing explicit dependence of the overlap. The overlap proves to be
necessary for a better quantitative description of the tunneling current, and
our theory reproduces experimental results substantially better compared to
standard approaches.Comment: 4 pages, 1 table, 1 figur
Magnetotransport through a strongly interacting quantum dot
We study the effect of a magnetic field on the conductance through a strongly
interacting quantum dot by using the finite temperature extension of Wilson's
numerical renormalization group method to dynamical quantities. The quantum dot
has one active level for transport and is modelled by an Anderson impurity
attached to left and right electron reservoirs. Detailed predictions are made
for the linear conductance and the spin-resolved conductance as a function of
gate voltage, temperature and magnetic field strength. A strongly coupled
quantum dot in a magnetic field acts as a spin filter which can be tuned by
varying the gate voltage. The largest spin-filtering effect is found in the
range of gate voltages corresponding to the mixed valence regime of the
Anderson impurity model.Comment: Revised version, to appear in PRB, 4 pages, 4 figure
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