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Thomas Østergaard Sørensen

Publications and source records attributed to Thomas Østergaard Sørensen.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

Pointwise estimates on derivatives of Coulombic wave functions and their electron densities

We prove a priori bounds for all derivatives of non-relativistic Coulombic eigenfunctions, involving negative powers of the distance to the singularities of the many-body potential. We use these to derive bounds for all derivatives of the corresponding one-electron densities, involving negative powers of the distance from the nuclei. The results are both natural and optimal, as seen from the ground state of Hydrogen.

math.AP↗

Coulomb potentials and Taylor expansions in Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory

We investigate when Taylor expansions can be used to prove the Runge-Gross Theorem, which is at the foundation of Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory (TDDFT). We start with a general analysis of the conditions for the Runge-Gross argument, especially the time-differentiability of the density. The latter should be questioned in the presence of singular (e.g. Coulomb) potentials. Then, we show that a singular potential in a one-body operator considerably decreases the class of time-dependent external potentials to which the original argument can be applied. A two-body singularity has an even stronger impact and an external potential is essentially incompatible with it. For the Coulomb interaction and all reasonable initial many-body states, the Taylor expansion only exists to a finite order, except for constant external potentials. Therefore, high-order Taylor expansions are not the right tool to study atoms and molecules in TDDFT.

math-ph↗

Real analyticity away from the nucleus of pseudorelativistic Hartree-Fock orbitals

We prove that the Hartree--Fock orbitals of pseudorelativistic atoms, that is, atoms where the kinetic energy of the electrons is given by the pseudorelativistic operator sqrt{-Delta+1}-1, are real analytic away from the origin. As a consequence, the quantum mechanical ground state of such atoms is never a Hartree-Fock state. Our proof is inspired by the classical proof of analyticity by nested balls of Morrey and Nirenberg. However, the technique has to be adapted to take care of the non-local pseudodifferential operator, the singularity of the potential at the origin, and the non-linear terms in the equation.

math-ph↗

Analytic structure of solutions to multiconfiguration equations

We study the regularity at the positions of the (fixed) nuclei of solutions to (non-relativistic) multiconfiguration equations (including Hartree--Fock) of Coulomb systems. We prove the following: Let {phi_1,...,phi_M} be any solution to the rank--M multiconfiguration equations for a molecule with L fixed nuclei at R_1,...,R_L in R^3. Then, for any j in {1,...,M} and k in {1,...,L}, there exists a neighbourhood U_{j,k} in R^3 of R_k, and functions phi^{(1)}_{j,k}, phi^{(2)}_{j,k}, real analytic in U_{j,k}, such that phi_j(x) = phi^{(1)}_{j,k}(x) + |x - R_k| phi^{(2)}_{j,k}(x), x in U_{j,k} A similar result holds for the corresponding electron density. The proof uses the Kustaanheimo--Stiefel transformation, as applied earlier by the authors to the study of the eigenfunctions of the Schr"odinger operator of atoms and molecules near two-particle coalescence points.

math-ph↗

The relativistic Scott correction for atoms and molecules

We prove the first correction to the leading Thomas-Fermi energy for the ground state energy of atoms and molecules in a model where the kinetic energy of the electrons is treated relativistically. The leading Thomas-Fermi energy, established in [Sorensen], as well as the correction given here are of semi-classical nature. Our result on atoms and molecules is proved from a general semi-classical estimate for relativistic operators with potentials with Coulomb-like singularities. This semi-classical estimate is obtained using the coherent state calculus introduced in [Solovej-Spitzer]. The paper contains a unified treatment of the relativistic as well as the non-relativistic case.

math-ph↗

Analytic structure of many-body Coulombic wave functions

We investigate the analytic structure of solutions of non-relativistic Schr"odinger equations describing Coulombic many-particle systems. We prove the following: Let psi(x) with x=(x_1,...,x_N) in R^{3N} denote an N-electron wavefunction of such a system with one nucleus fixed at the origin. Then in a neighbourhood of a coalescence point, for which x_1=0 and the other electron coordinates do not coincide, and differ from 0, psi can be represented locally as psi(x) = psi^(1)(x) + |x_1|psi^(2)(x) with psi^(1), psi^(2) real analytic. A similar representation holds near two-electron coalescence points. The Kustaanheimo-Stiefel transform and analytic hypoellipticity play an essential role in the proof.

math-ph↗

Hartree-Fock theory for pseudorelativistic atoms

We study the Hartree-Fock model for pseudorelativistic atoms, that is, atoms where the kinetic energy of the electrons is given by the pseudorelativistic operator \sqrt{(pc)^2+(mc^2)^2}-mc^2. We prove the existence of a Hartree-Fock minimizer, and prove regularity away from the nucleus and pointwise exponential decay of the corresponding orbitals.

math-ph↗

Positivity and lower bounds to the decay of the atomic one-electron density

We investigate properties of the spherically averaged atomic one-electron density rho~(r). For a rho~ which stems from a physical ground state we prove that rho~ > 0. We also give exponentially decreasing lower bounds to rho~ in the case when the eigenvalue is below the corresponding essential spectrum.

math-ph↗

Third derivative of the one-electron density at the nucleus

We study electron densities of eigenfunctions of atomic Schroedinger operators. We prove the existence of rho~'''(0), the third derivative of the spherically averaged atomic density rho~ at the nucleus. For eigenfunctions with corresponding eigenvalue below the essential spectrum we obtain the bound rho~'''(0) \leq -(7/12)Z^3 rho~(0), where Z denotes the nuclear charge. This bound is optimal.

math-ph↗

On the convergence of eigenfunctions to threshold energy states

We prove the convergence in certain weighted spaces in momentum space of eigenfunctions of H = T-lambda*V as the energy goes to an energy threshold. We do this for three choices of kinetic energy T, namely the non-relativistic Schr"odinger operator, the pseudorelativistc operator sqrt{-Δ+m^2}-m, and the Dirac operator.

math-ph↗

Non-isotropic cusp conditions and regularity of the electron density of molecules at the nuclei

We investigate regularity properties of molecular one-electron densities rho near the nuclei. In particular we derive a representation rho(x)=mu(x)*(e^F(x)) with an explicit function F, only depending on the nuclear charges and the positions of the nuclei, such that mu belongs to C^{1,1}(R^3), i.e., mu has locally essentially bounded second derivatives. An example constructed using Hydrogenic eigenfunctions shows that this regularity result is sharp. For atomic eigenfunctions which are either even or odd with respect to inversion in the origin, we prove that mu is even C^{2,α}(R^3) for all alpha in (0,1). Placing one nucleus at the origin we study rho in polar coordinates x=r*omega and investigate rho'(r,omega) and rho''(r,omega) for fixed omega as r tends to zero. We prove non-isotropic cusp conditions of first and second order, which generalize Kato's classical result.

math-ph↗

The large-Z behaviour of pseudo-relativistic atoms

In this paper we study the large-Z behaviour of the ground state energy of atoms with electrons having relativistic kinetic energy sqrt(p^2c^2+m^2c^4)-mc^2. We prove that to leading order in Z the energy is the same as in the non-relativistic case, given by (non-relativistic) Thomas-Fermi theory. For the problem to make sense, we keep the product Z*alpha fixed (here alpha is Sommerfeld's fine structure constant), and smaller than, or equal to, 2/pi, which means that as Z tends to infinity, alpha tends to zero.

math-ph↗

Sharp regularity results for many-electron wave functions

We show that electronic wave functions Psi of atoms and molecules have a representation Psi=F*phi, where F is an explicit universal factor, locally Lipschitz, and independent of the eigenvalue and the solution Psi itself, and phi has locally bounded second derivatives. This representation turns out to be optimal as can already be demonstrated with the help of hydrogenic wave functions. The proofs of these results are, in an essential way, based on a new elliptic regularity result which is of independent interest. Some identities that can be interpreted as cusp conditions for second order derivatives of Psi are derived.

math-ph↗

Electron Wavefunctions and Densities for Atoms

With a special `Ansatz' we analyse the regularity properties of atomic electron wavefunctions and electron densities. In particular we prove an a priori estimate, $\sup_{y\in B(x,R)}|\nablaψ(y)| \leq C(R) \sup_{y\in B(x,2R)}|ψ(y)|$ and obtain for the spherically averaged electron density, $\widetildeρ(r)$, that $\widetildeρ''(0)$ exists and is non-negative.

math.AP↗