Differentiable but exact formulation of density-functional theory
- Centre for Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1033 Blindern, N-0315 Oslo (Norway)
The universal density functional F of density-functional theory is a complicated and ill-behaved function of the density—in particular, F is not differentiable, making many formal manipulations more complicated. While F has been well characterized in terms of convex analysis as forming a conjugate pair (E, F) with the ground-state energy E via the Hohenberg–Kohn and Lieb variation principles, F is nondifferentiable and subdifferentiable only on a small (but dense) subset of its domain. In this article, we apply a tool from convex analysis, Moreau–Yosida regularization, to construct, for any ε > 0, pairs of conjugate functionals ({sup ε}E, {sup ε}F) that converge to (E, F) pointwise everywhere as ε → 0{sup +}, and such that {sup ε}F is (Fréchet) differentiable. For technical reasons, we limit our attention to molecular electronic systems in a finite but large box. It is noteworthy that no information is lost in the Moreau–Yosida regularization: the physical ground-state energy E(v) is exactly recoverable from the regularized ground-state energy {sup ε}E(v) in a simple way. All concepts and results pertaining to the original (E, F) pair have direct counterparts in results for ({sup ε}E, {sup ε}F). The Moreau–Yosida regularization therefore allows for an exact, differentiable formulation of density-functional theory. In particular, taking advantage of the differentiability of {sup ε}F, a rigorous formulation of Kohn–Sham theory is presented that does not suffer from the noninteracting representability problem in standard Kohn–Sham theory.
- OSTI ID:
- 22253466
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 140, Issue 18; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-9606
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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