arXiv subjects

Pierre-François Loos

Publications and source records attributed to Pierre-François Loos.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Symmetry-broken local-density approximation for one-dimensional systems

Within density-functional theory, the local-density approximation (LDA) correlation functional is typically built by fitting the difference between the near-exact and Hartree-Fock (HF) energies of the uniform electron gas (UEG), together with analytic perturbative results from the high- and low-density regimes. Near-exact energies are obtained by performing accurate diffusion Monte Carlo calculations, while HF energies are usually assumed to be the Fermi fluid HF energy. However, it has been known since the seminal work of Overhauser that one can obtain lower, symmetry-broken (SB) HF energies at any density. Here, we have computed the SBHF energies of the one-dimensional UEG and constructed a SB version of the LDA (SBLDA) from the results. We compare the performance of the LDA and SBLDA functionals when applied to one-dimensional systems, including atoms and molecules. Generalization to higher dimensions is also discussed.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2016

Many-electron integrals over gaussian basis functions. I. Recurrence relations for three-electron integrals

Explicitly-correlated F12 methods are becoming the first choice for high-accuracy molecular orbital calculations, and can often achieve chemical accuracy with relatively small gaussian basis sets. In most calculations, the many three- and four-electron integrals that formally appear in the theory are avoided through judicious use of resolutions of the identity (RI). However, in order not to jeopardize the intrinsic accuracy of the F12 wave function, the associated RI auxiliary basis set must be large. Here, inspired by the Head-Gordon-Pople (HGP) and PRISM algorithms for two-electron integrals, we present an algorithm to compute directly three-electron integrals over gaussian basis functions and a very general class of three-electron operators, without invoking RI approximations. A general methodology to derive vertical, transfer and horizontal recurrence relations is also presented.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2016

The uniform electron gas

The uniform electron gas or UEG (also known as jellium) is one of the most fundamental models in condensed-matter physics and the cornerstone of the most popular approximation --- the local-density approximation --- within density-functional theory. In this article, we provide a detailed review on the energetics of the UEG at high, intermediate and low densities, and in one, two and three dimensions. We also report the best quantum Monte Carlo and symmetry-broken Hartree-Fock calculations available in the literature for the UEG and discuss the phase diagrams of jellium.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2015

Three-electron coalescence points in two and three dimensions

The form of the wave function at three-electron coalescence points is examined for several spin states using an alternative method to the usual Fock expansion. We find that, in two- and three-dimensional systems, the non-analytical nature of the wave function is characterized by the appearance of logarithmic terms, reminiscent of those that appear as both electrons approach the nucleus of the helium atom. The explicit form of these singularities is given in terms of the interelectronic distances for a doublet and two quartet states of three electrons in a harmonic well.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2015

Uniform electron gases: III. Low-density gases on three-dimensional spheres

By combining variational Monte Carlo (VMC) and complete-basis-set limit Hartree-Fock (HF) calculations, we have obtained near-exact correlation energies for low-density same-spin electrons on a three-dimensional sphere (3-sphere), i.e.~the surface of a four-dimensional ball. In the VMC calculations, we compare the efficacies of two types of one-electron basis functions for these strongly correlated systems, and analyze the energy convergence with respect to the quality of the Jastrow factor. The HF calculations employ spherical Gaussian functions (SGFs) which are the curved-space analogs of cartesian Gaussian functions. At low densities, the electrons become relatively localized into Wigner crystals, and the natural SGF centers are found by solving the Thomson problem (i.e. the minimum-energy arrangement of $n$ point charges) on the 3-sphere for various values of $n$. We have found 11 special values of $n$ whose Thomson sites are equivalent. Three of these are the vertices of four-dimensional Platonic solids --- the hyper-tetrahedron ($n=5$), the hyper-octahedron ($n=8$) and the 24-cell ($n=24$) --- and a fourth is a highly symmetric structure ($n=13$) which has not previously been reported. By calculating the harmonic frequencies of the electrons around their equilibrium positions, we also find the first-order vibrational corrections to the Thomson energy.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2015

Nodal surfaces and interdimensional degeneracies

The aim of this paper is to shed light on the topology and properties of the nodes (i.e. the zeros of the wave function) in electronic systems. Using the "electrons on a sphere" model, we study the nodes of two-, three- and four-electron systems in various ferromagnetic configurations ($sp$, $p^2$, $sd$, $pd$, $p^3$, $sp^2$ and $sp^3$). In some particular cases ($sp$, $p^2$, $sd$, $pd$ and $p^3$), we rigorously prove that the non-interacting wave function has the same nodes as the exact (yet unknown) wave function. The number of atomic and molecular systems for which the exact nodes are known analytically is very limited and we show here that this peculiar feature can be attributed to interdimensional degeneracies. Although we have not been able to prove it rigorously, we conjecture that the nodes of the non-interacting wave function for the $sp^3$ configuration are exact.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2014

Basis functions for electronic structure calculations on spheres

We introduce a new basis function (the spherical gaussian) for electronic structure calculations on spheres of any dimension $D$. We find \alert{general} expressions for the one- and two-electron integrals and propose an efficient computational algorithm incorporating the Cauchy-Schwarz bound. Using numerical calculations for the $D = 2$ case, we show that spherical gaussians are more efficient than spherical harmonics when the electrons are strongly localized.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2014

Chemistry in One Dimension

We report benchmark results for one-dimensional (1D) atomic and molecular systems interacting via the Coulomb operator $|x|^{-1}$. Using various wavefunction-type approaches, such as Hartree-Fock theory, second- and third-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory and explicitly correlated calculations, we study the ground state of atoms with up to ten electrons as well as small diatomic and triatomic molecules containing up to two electrons. A detailed analysis of the 1D helium-like ions is given and the expression of the high-density correlation energy is reported. We report the total energies, ionization energies, electron affinities and other interesting properties of the many-electron 1D atoms and, based on these results, we construct the 1D analog of Mendeleev's periodic table. We find that the 1D periodic table contains only two groups: the alkali metals and the noble gases. We also calculate the dissociation curves of various 1D diatomics and study the chemical bond in H$_2^+$, HeH$^{2+}$, He$_2^{3+}$, H$_2$, HeH$^+$ and He$_2^{2+}$. We find that, unlike their 3D counterparts, 1D molecules are primarily bound by one-electron bonds. Finally, we study the chemistry of H$_3^+$ and we discuss the stability of the 1D polymer resulting from an infinite chain of hydrogen atoms.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2014

Generalized local-density approximation and one-dimensional finite uniform electron gases

We explicitly build a generalized local-density approximation (GLDA) correlation functional based on one-dimensional (1D) uniform electron gases (UEGs). The fundamental parameters of the GLDA \textemdash a generalization of the widely-known local-density approximation (LDA) used in density-functional theory (DFT) \textemdash are the electronic density $ρ$ and a newly-defined two-electron local parameter called the hole curvature $η$. The UEGs considered in this study are finite versions of the conventional infinite homogeneous electron gas and consist of $n$ electrons on a infinitely thin wire with periodic boundary conditions. We perform a comprehensive study of these finite UEGs at high, intermediate and low densities using perturbation theory and quantum Monte Carlo calculations. We show that the present GLDA functional yields accurate estimates of the correlation energy for both weakly and strongly correlated one-dimensional systems and can be easily generalized to higher-dimensional systems.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2014

Uniform Electron Gases. II. The Generalized Local Density Approximation in One Dimension

We introduce a generalization (gLDA) of the traditional Local Density Approximation (LDA) within density functional theory. The gLDA uses both the one-electron Seitz radius $\rs$ and a two-electron hole curvature parameter $η$ at each point in space. The gLDA reduces to the LDA when applied to the infinite homogeneous electron gas but, unlike the LDA, is is also exact for finite uniform electron gases on spheres. We present an explicit gLDA functional for the correlation energy of electrons that are confined to a one-dimensional space and compare its accuracy with LDA, second- and third-order Møller-Plesset perturbation energies and exact calculations for a variety of inhomogeneous systems.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2013

Exact wave functions for concentric two-electron systems

We show that the exact solution of the Schrödinger equation for two electrons confined to two distinct concentric rings or spheres can be found in closed form for particular sets of the ring or sphere radii. In the case of two concentric rings, we report exact polynomial and irrational solutions. The same methodology is applied to the case of two concentric spheres for which we report exact polynomial solutions for the ground state and the excited states of $S$ symmetry. For these concentric systems, we show that the exact wave function does not contain terms proportional to the interelectronic distance due to the spatial separation of the electrons.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2013

Uniform electron gases. I. Electrons on a ring

We introduce a new paradigm for one-dimensional uniform electron gases (UEGs). In this model, $n$ electrons are confined to a ring and interact via a bare Coulomb operator. We use Rayleigh-Schrödinger perturbation theory to show that, in the high-density regime, the ground-state reduced (i.e. per electron) energy can be expanded as $\eps(r_s,n) = \eps_0(n) r_s^{-2} + \eps_1(n) r_s^{-1} + \eps_2(n) +\eps_3(n) r_s + \ldots$, where $r_s$ is the Seitz radius. We use strong-coupling perturbation theory and show that, in the low-density regime, the reduced energy can be expanded as $\eps(r_s,n) = η_0(n) r_s^{-1} + η_1(n) r_s^{-3/2} + η_2(n) r_s^{-2} + \ldots$. We report explicit expressions for $\eps_0(n)$, $\eps_1(n)$, $\eps_2(n)$, $\eps_3(n)$, $η_0(n)$ and $η_1(n)$ and derive the thermodynamic (large-$n$) limits of each of these. Finally, we perform numerical studies of UEGs with $n = 2, 3, \ldots, 10$, using Hylleraas-type and quantum Monte Carlo methods, and combine these with the perturbative results to obtain a picture of the behavior of the new model over the full range of $n$ and $r_s$ values.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2013

High-density correlation energy expansion of the one-dimensional uniform electron gas

We show that the expression of the high-density (i.e small-$r_s$) correlation energy per electron for the one-dimensional uniform electron gas can be obtained by conventional perturbation theory and is of the form $\Ec(r_s) = -π^2/360 + 0.00845 r_s + ...$, where $r_s$ is the average radius of an electron. Combining these new results with the low-density correlation energy expansion, we propose a local-density approximation correlation functional, which deviates by a maximum of 0.1 millihartree compared to the benchmark DMC calculations.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Correlation energy of the one-dimensional Coulomb gas

We introduce a new paradigm for finite and infinite strict-one-dimensional uniform electron gases. In this model, $n$ electrons are confined to a ring and interact via a bare Coulomb operator. In the high-density limit (small-$r_s$, where $r_s$ is the Seitz radius), we find that the reduced correlation energy is $\Ec(r_s,n) = \eps^{(2)}(n) + O(r_s)$, and we report explicit expressions for $\eps^{(2)}(n)$. In the thermodynamic (large-$n$) limit of this, we show that $\Ec(r_s) = - π^2/360 + O(r_s)$. In the low-density (large-$r_s$) limit, the system forms a Wigner crystal and we find that $\Ec(r_s) = -[\ln(\sqrt{2π})-3/4] r_s^{-1} + 0.359933 r_s^{-3/2} + O(r_s^{-2})$. Using these results, we propose a correlation functional that interpolates between the high- and low-density limits. The accuracy of the functional for intermediate densities is established by comparison with diffusion Monte Carlo results. Application to a non-uniform system is also reported.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2012

Understanding excitons using spherical geometry

Using the spherical geometry, we introduce a novel model to study excitons confined in a three-dimensional space, which offers unparalleled mathematical simplicity while retaining much of the key physics. This new model consists of an exciton trapped on the 3-sphere (i.e. the surface of a four-dimensional ball), and provides a unified treatment of Frenkel and Wannier-Mott excitons. Moreover, we show that one can determine, for particular values of the dielectric constant $ε$, the closed-form expression of the exact wave function. We use the exact wave function of the lowest bound state for $ε=2$ to introduce an intermediate regime which gives satisfactory agreement with \alert{the} exact results for a wide range of $ε$ values.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2012

Uniform electron gases

We show that the traditional concept of the uniform electron gas (UEG) --- a homogeneous system of finite density, consisting of an infinite number of electrons in an infinite volume --- is inadequate to model the UEGs that arise in finite systems. We argue that, in general, a UEG is characterized by at least two parameters, \textit{viz.} the usual one-electron density parameter $ρ$ and a new two-electron parameter $η$. We outline a systematic strategy to determine a new density functional $E(ρ,η)$ across the spectrum of possible $ρ$ and $η$ values.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2012

Harmonically trapped jellium

We discuss the model of a $D$-dimensional confined electron gas in which the particles are trapped by a harmonic potential. In particular, we study the non-interacting kinetic and exchange energies of finite-size inhomogeneous systems, and compare the resulting Thomas-Fermi and Dirac coefficients with various uniform electron gas paradigms. We show that, in the thermodynamic limit, the properties of this model are identical to those of the $D$-dimensional Fermi gas.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2012

Exact wave functions of two-electron quantum rings

We demonstrate that the Schrödinger equation for two electrons on a ring, which is the usual paradigm to model quantum rings, is solvable in closed form for particular values of the radius. We show that both polynomial and irrational solutions can be found for any value of the angular momentum and that the singlet and triplet manifolds, which are degenerate, have distinct geometric phases. We also study the nodal structure associated with these two-electron states.

cond-mat.str-el↗