Density functional theory for systems spatially correlated

Author(s)

Neemias Alves de Lima

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Carlos.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Física de São Carlos (IFSC/BT)
• Defense date: 2002-04-26

Examining board members

Luiz Nunes de Oliveira; Sylvio Roberto Accioly Canuto; Lidério Citrângulo Ioriatti Júnior; Albérico Borges Ferreira da Silva; Antonio Jose Roque da Silva

• Advisor: Luiz Nunes de Oliveira

Abstract

The local-density approximation to density-functional theory has, in the past, lead to conflicting results for the dimerization of infinite trans-polyacetylene (trans-PA) chains. These results range from strong dimerization, close to the one observed experimentally, to weak dimerization, or even no dimerization at all. Since the local-density approximation usually describes structural phase transitions correctly, this unsatisfactory situation in the case of trans-PA calls for a detailed investigation. In this work we study the problem by describing the polyacetylene molecule as a one-dimensional Hubbard-Peierls model. We set up a density-functional theory for this model, and construct a local-density approximation. In agreement with the ab initio calculations we find that this type of approximation does not consistently describe the dimerization. We therefore propose an alternative formalism, based on density-matrix functionals. In this formalism the exchange-correlation energy is written as a functional of the charge density (as in the traditional method) and the order parameter for the dimerization transition. In this way we achieve an improved treatment of the dimerized phase. Our results suggest that a reliable description of spatially correlated systems within density-functional theory requires a new type of functionals, going beyond the local-density approximation by explicitly accounting for long-range spatial order. (AU)