Development of Density-Functional Theory for Plasmon-Assisted Superconducting State: Application to Lithium Under High Pressures

We extend the density-functional theory for superconductors (SCDFT) to take account of the dynamical structure of the screened Coulomb interaction. We construct an exchange-correlation kernel in the SCDFT gap equation on the basis of the random-phase approximation, where electronic collective excitations such as plasmons are properly treated. Through an application to fcc lithium under high pressures, we demonstrate that our new kernel gives higher transition temperatures (Tc) when the plasmon and phonon cooperatively mediate pairing and it improves the agreement between the calculated and experimentally observed Tc. The present formalism opens the door to non-empirical studies on unconventional electron mechanisms of superconductivity based on density functional theory.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, title has been changed from that of the previously uploaded version for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Density Functional Theory for Plasmon-Assisted Superconductivity

We review the recent progress in the density functional theory for superconductors (SCDFT). Motivated by the long-studied plasmon mechanism of superconductivity, we have constructed an exchange-correlation kernel entering the SCDFT gap equation which includes the plasmon effect. For the case of lithium under high pressures, we show that the plasmon effect substantially enhances the transition temperature (Tc) by cooperating with the conventional phonon mechanism and results in a better agreement between the theoretical and experimentally observed Tc. Our present formalism will be a first step to density functional theory for unconventional superconductors.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures; accepted for publication in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. Special Topics; conference proceedings of The International Conference on Strongly Correlated Electron Systems (SCES) 201

Neural-network Kohn-Sham exchange-correlation potential and its out-of-training transferability

We incorporate in the Kohn-Sham self consistent equation a trained neural-network projection from the charge density distribution to the Hartree-exchange-correlation potential $n \rightarrow V_{\rm Hxc}$ for possible numerical approach to the exact Kohn-Sham scheme. The potential trained through a newly developed scheme enables us to evaluate the total energy without explicitly treating the formula of the exchange-correlation energy. With a case study of a simple model we show that the well-trained neural-network $V_{\rm Hxc}$ achieves accuracy for the charge density and total energy out of the model parameter range used for the training, indicating that the property of the elusive ideal functional form of $V_{\rm Hxc}$ can approximately be encapsulated by the machine-learning construction. We also exemplify a factor that crucially limits the transferability--the boundary in the model parameter space where the number of the one-particle bound states changes--and see that this is cured by setting the training parameter range across that boundary. The training scheme and insights from the model study apply to more general systems, opening a novel path to numerically efficient Kohn-Sham potential.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Application of Coulomb energy density functional for atomic nuclei: Case studies of local density approximation and generalized gradient approximation

We test the Coulomb exchange and correlation energy density functionals of electron systems for atomic nuclei in the local density approximation (LDA) and the generalized gradient approximation (GGA). For the exchange Coulomb energies, it is found that the deviation between the LDA and GGA ranges from around $11 \, \%$ in ${}^{4} \mathrm{He}$ to around $2.2 \, \%$ in ${}^{208} \mathrm{Pb}$, by taking the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE) functional as an example of the GGA\@. For the correlation Coulomb energies, it is shown that those functionals of electron systems are not suitable for atomic nuclei.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures, 2 table

First-principles study of the pressure and crystal-structure dependences of the superconducting transition temperature in compressed sulfur hydrides

We calculate superconducting transition temperatures ($T_{\rm c}$) in sulfur hydrides H$_{2}$S and H$_{3}$S from first principles using the density functional theory for superconductors. At pressures of $\lesssim$150 GPa, the high values of $T_{\rm c}$ ($\gtrsim$130 K) observed in the recent experiment [A. P. Drozdov, M. I. Eremets, and I. A. Troyan, arXiv:1412.0460] are accurately reproduced by assuming that H$_{2}$S decomposes into $R3m$-H$_{3}$S and S. For the higher pressures, the calculated $T_{\rm c}$s for $Im3m$-H$_{3}$S are systematically higher than those for $R3m$-H$_{3}$S and the experimentally observed maximum value (190 K), which suggests the possibility of another higher-$T_{\rm c}$ phase. We also quantify the isotope effect from first principles and demonstrate that the isotope effect coefficient can be larger than the conventional value (0.5) when multiple structural phases energetically compete.Comment: Main text: 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Supplemental Material: 3 pages, 6 tables. Comment on ver2: Supplemental Material has been merged with the main text, data have been added in Fig.1, and the title has been changed from the original versio