Exchange and correlation in atoms, molecules, and solids by the spin-density-functional formalism

The aim of this paper is to advocate the usefulness of the spin-density-functional (SDF) formalism. The generalization of the Hohenberg-Kohn-Sham scheme to and SDF formalism is presented in its thermodynamic version. The ground-state formalism is extended to more general Hamiltonians and to the lowest excited state of each symmetry. A relation between the exchange-correlation functional and the pair correlation function is derived. It is used for the interpretation of approximate versions of the theory, in particular the local-spin-density (LSD) approximation, which is formally valid only in the limit of slow and weak spatial variation in the density. It is shown, however, to give good account for the exchange-correlation energy also in rather inhomogeneous situations, because only the spherical average of the exchange-correlation hole influences this energy, and because it fulfills the sum rule stating that this hole should contain only one charge unit. A further advantage of the LSD approximation is that it can be systematically improved. Calculations on the homogeneous spin-polarized electron liquid are reported on. These calculations provide data in the form of interpolation formulas for the exchange-correlation energy and potentials, to be used in the LSD approximation. The ground-state properties are obtained from the Galitskii-Migdal formula, which relates the total energy to the one-electron spectrum, obtained with a dynamical self-energy. The self-energy is calculated in an electron-plasmon model where the electron is assumed to couple to one single mode. The potential for excited states is obtained by identifying the quasiparticle peak in the spectrum. Correlation is found to significantly weaken the spin dependence of the potentials, compared with the result in the Hartree-Fock approximation. Charge and spin response functions are calculated in the long-wavelength limit. Correlation is found to be very important for properties which involve a change in the spinpolarization. For atoms, molecules, and solids the usefulness of the SDF formalism is discussed. In order to explore the range of applicability, a few applications of the LSD approximation are made on systems for which accurate solutions exist. The calculated ionization potentials, affinities, and excitation energies for atoms propose that the valence electrons are fairly well described, a typical error in the ionization energy being 1/2 eV. The exchange-correlation holes of two-electron ions are discussed. An application to the hydrogen molecule, using a minimum basis set, shows that the LSD approximation gives good results for the energy curve for all separations studied, in contrast to the spin-independent local approximation. In particular, the error in the binding energy is only 0.1 eV, and bond breaking is properly described. For solids, the SDF formalism provides a framework for band models of magnetism. An estimate of the splitting between spin-up and spin-down energy bands of a ferromagnetic transition metal shows that the LSD approximation gives a correction of the correct sign and order of magnitude to published $X\ensuremath{\alpha}$ results. To stimulate further use of the SDF formalism in the LSD approximation, the paper is self-contained and describes the necessary formulas and input data for the potentials.