Exchange, Correlation, and Spin Effects in Molecular and Solid-State Theory

Per-Olov Löwdin
Rev. Mod. Phys. 34, 80 – Published 1 January 1962

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION  

the theory of the electronic structure of atoms, ~ - molecules, and solid state, the exchange and correlation phenomena play a fundamental role in studying cohesive and elastic properties or electric and magnetic behavior. Conventionally it seems as if the exchange effects would be of particular importance in ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic materials and the correlation effects in conductors and semiconductors, but actually the two phenomena are closely coupled together in all electronic systems.

https://www.physik.uzh.ch/lectures/electroncorrelations/Loewdin_correlation.pdf

https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.34.80


The exchange integral J was introduced by Heisenberg, ' but since this concept has been strongly criticized by several authors and particularly by Slater, ' we start by a redehnition of this important quantity.

In addition to exchange, another phenomenon is of fundamental importance in many-electron theory, namely the interelectronic correlation. Because of their mutual coulomb repulsion, two electrons try always to avoid each other to keep the energy as low as possible which leads to a certain "correlation" between their motions. In this connection, there is actually an increase in the kinetic energy of the two electrons because of the more complicated motions they have to perform, but this is compensated by a still larger decrease in the coulomb repulsion energy; the balance is regulated by the virial theorem, (T)= —rs(V).

In the Hartree-Fock scheme, the essential part of the correlation error is hence associated with electron pairs having antiparallel spins. The corretafioe energy is not a physical quantity but the measure of the energy error due to the neglect of correlation in a certain approximation. One is particularly interested in the correlation error in the HartreeFock (HF) scheme corresponding to the band theory in solid-state physics, and it seems convenient to use the definition:

Correlation energy= E, „,—EHF,

where E,„„fis the true eigenvalue for the Hamiltonian under consideration.

For the H2 molecule, the correlation energy is —1.06 ev corresponding to errors of +1.06 ev in the kinetic energy and —2.12 ev in the potential energy. Since 1 ev= 23.07 kcal/mole, these quantities are appreciable even from a chemical point of view. For the series of He-like ions, the correlation energy is approximately constant —1.2 ev, varying from —1.142 for He to —1.197 for C4+. For Be, the correlation energy is —2.4 ev but, for the series of Be-like ions, it seems to vary linearly with Z depending on the degeneracy of the 2s and 2p orbitals. " For the ¹like ions, it is probably fairly constant of the order of magnitude —11 ev." For the alkali metals I i, Na, and K, signer "A. Froman, Phys. Rev. 112, 870 (1958). has given the values —1.89, —1.73, and —1.58 ev, respectively.

Post a Comment

0 Comments