Spin migration in density functional theory: energy, potential and density perspectives

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Hayman, Alon, Kraisler, Eli, Stein, Tamar
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Hayman, Alon
Kraisler, Eli
Stein, Tamar
author_facet Hayman, Alon
Kraisler, Eli
Stein, Tamar
contents Spin is a fundamental property of any many-electron system. The ability of density functional theory to accurately predict the physical properties of a system, while varying its spin, is crucial for describing magnetic materials and high-spin molecules, spin flip, magnetization and demagnetization processes. Within density functional theory, when using various exchange-correlation approximations, the exact dependence of the energy on the spin often deviates from the exact constant or piecewise-linear behavior, which is directly related to the problem of strong (static) correlation and challenges the description of molecular dissociation. In this paper, we study the behavior of the energy, the frontier Kohn-Sham (KS) orbitals, the KS potentials and the electron density, with respect to fractional spin, in different atomic systems. We analyze five standard exchange-correlation functionals and find three main scenarios of deviation from the expected exact results. We clearly recognize a jump in the frontier orbital energies upon spin variation in the exact exchange and in hybrid functionals, and the related plateau in the corresponding KS potential. Our results are instrumental for the assessment of the quality of existing approximations from a new perspective and for the development of advanced functionals with sensitivity to magnetic properties.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_01549
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Spin migration in density functional theory: energy, potential and density perspectives
Hayman, Alon
Kraisler, Eli
Stein, Tamar
Chemical Physics
Materials Science
Atomic Physics
Quantum Physics
Spin is a fundamental property of any many-electron system. The ability of density functional theory to accurately predict the physical properties of a system, while varying its spin, is crucial for describing magnetic materials and high-spin molecules, spin flip, magnetization and demagnetization processes. Within density functional theory, when using various exchange-correlation approximations, the exact dependence of the energy on the spin often deviates from the exact constant or piecewise-linear behavior, which is directly related to the problem of strong (static) correlation and challenges the description of molecular dissociation. In this paper, we study the behavior of the energy, the frontier Kohn-Sham (KS) orbitals, the KS potentials and the electron density, with respect to fractional spin, in different atomic systems. We analyze five standard exchange-correlation functionals and find three main scenarios of deviation from the expected exact results. We clearly recognize a jump in the frontier orbital energies upon spin variation in the exact exchange and in hybrid functionals, and the related plateau in the corresponding KS potential. Our results are instrumental for the assessment of the quality of existing approximations from a new perspective and for the development of advanced functionals with sensitivity to magnetic properties.
title Spin migration in density functional theory: energy, potential and density perspectives
topic Chemical Physics
Materials Science
Atomic Physics
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.01549