Stochastic TDHF in an exactly solvable model

We apply in a schematic model a theory beyond mean-field, namely Stochastic Time-Dependent Hartree-Fock (STDHF), which includes dynamical electron-electron collisions on top of an incoherent ensemble of mean-field states by occasional 2-particle-2-hole ($2p2h$) jumps. The model considered here is inspired by a Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model of $\Omega$ particles distributed into two bands of energy and coupled by a two-body interaction. Such a model can be exactly solved (numerically though) for small $\Omega$. It therefore allows a direct comparison of STDHF and the exact propagation. The systematic impact of the model parameters as the density of states, the excitation energy and the bandwidth is presented and discussed. The time evolution of the STDHF compares fairly well with the exact entropy, as soon as the excitation energy is sufficiently large to allow $2p2h$ transitions. Limitations concerning low energy excitations and memory effects are also discussed.Comment: 23 pages, 8 figures, accepted in Annals of Physic

Exploring non-adiabatic approximations to the exchange-correlation functional of TDDFT

A decomposition of the exact exchange-correlation potential of time-dependent density functional theory into an interaction component and a kinetic component offers a new starting point for non-adiabatic approximations. The components are expressed in terms of the exchange-correlation hole and the difference between the one-body density matrix of the interacting and Kohn-Sham systems, which must be approximated in terms of quantities accessible from the Kohn-Sham evolution. We explore several preliminary approximations, evaluate their fulfillment of known exact conditions, and test their performance on simple model systems for which available exact solutions indicate the significance of going beyond the adiabatic approximation.Fil: Fuks, Johanna Ildemar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Lacombe, Lionel. University of New York; Estados UnidosFil: Nielsen, Søren E. B.. Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter; Alemania. Center for Free-Electron Laser Science; AlemaniaFil: Maitra, Neepa T.. University of New York; Estados Unido

The Exact Exchange-Correlation Potential in Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory: Choreographing Electrons with Steps and Peaks

The time-dependent exchange-correlation potential has an unusual task in directing fictitious non-interacting electrons to move with exactly the same probability density as true interacting electrons. This has intriguing implications for its structure, especially in the non-perturbative regime, leading to step and peak features that cannot be captured by bootstrapping any ground-state functional approximations. We review what has been learned about these features in the exact exchange-correlation potential in time-dependent density functional theory in the past decade or so, and implications for the performance of simulations when electrons are driven far from any ground-state

Electron Scattering in Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory

It was recently shown [Y. Suzuki, L. Lacombe, K. Watanabe, and N. T. Maitra, Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 263401 (2017)] that peak and valley structures in the exact exchange-correlation potential of time-dependent density functional theory are crucial for accurately capturing time-resolved dynamics of electron scattering in a model one-dimensional system. Approximate functionals used today miss these structures and con- sequently underestimate the scattering probability. The dynamics can vary significantly depending on the choice of the initial Kohn-Sham state, and, with a judicious choice, a recently-proposed non-adiabatic ap- proximation provides extremely accurate dynamics on approach to the target but this ultimately also fails to capture reflection accurately. Here we provide more details, using a model of electron-He + as illustration, in both the inelastic and elastic regimes. In the elastic case, the time-resolved picture is contrasted with the time-independent picture of scattering, where the linear response theory of TDDFT can be used to extract transmission and reflection coefficients. Although the exact functional yields identical scattering probabil- ities when used in this way as it does in the time-resolved picture, we show that the currently-available approximate functionals do not, even when they have the correct asymptotic behavior.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

Exact time-dependent density-functional theory for nonperturbative dynamics of the helium atom

By inverting the time-dependent Kohn-Sham equation for a numerically exact dynamics of the helium atom, we show that the dynamical step and peak features of the exact correlation potential found previously in one-dimensional models persist for real three-dimensional systems. We demonstrate that the Kohn-Sham and true current densities differ by a rotational component. The results have direct implications for approximate time-dependent density functional theory calculations of atoms and molecules in strong fields, emphasizing the need to go beyond the adiabatic approximation, and highlighting caution in the quantitative use of the Kohn-Sham currentFinancial support from the National Science Foundation Award No. CHE-1940333 (DD) and from the Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences under Award No. DESC0020044 (NTM, LL) are gratefully acknowledged. J.F. acknowledges financial support from the European Research Council through Grant No. ERC-2016- StG-714870, and by the Spanish Ministry for Science, Innovation, and Universities: Agencia Estatal de Investigación through Grant No. RTI2018-099737-B-I0