Date Awarded
2008
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Department
Physics
Abstract
Electronic structure calculations using simulation cells for extended systems typically incorporate periodic boundary conditions as an attempt to mimic the real system with a practically infinite number of particles. Periodic boundary conditions introduce unphysical constraints that give rise to finite-size errors. In mean-field type calculations, the infinite size limit is achieved by simple quadrature in the Brillouin zone using a finite number of k-points. Many-body electronic structure calculations with explicit two-particle interactions cannot avail themselves of this simplification. Direct extrapolation is computationally costly while size correction with less accurate methods is frequently not sufficiently accurate. The Hartree-Fock method neglects the correlation energy, while the conventional density functional theory (DFT) uses the infinite-size limit of the exchange correlation function. Here we present a new finite-size exchange correlation function designed to be used in OFT calculations to give more accurate estimates of the finite-size errors. Applications of the method are presented, including the P2 molecule, fcc silicon, bcc sodium and BiScO3 perovskite. The method is shown to deliver rapidly convergent size-corrections.
DOI
https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-s6xw-cy02
Rights
© The Author
Recommended Citation
Kwee, Hendra, "Correction of finite size errors in many-body electronic structure calculations" (2008). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. William & Mary. Paper 1539623524.
https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-s6xw-cy02
