Thomas-Fermi approach to density functional theory: binding energy for atomic systems

H. O. DI ROCCO; F. LANZINI; J. C. AGUIAR

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICS

IOP PUBLISHING LTD

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2016 vol. 37 p. 654021 - 6540216

0143-0807

In this work, we re-examine the Thomas-Fermi formalism as an approach tothe calculation of atomic binding energies. We focus on the concept of electron density as the central magnitude, and the way in which the different contributions to the total energy can be evaluated from it. Total energies of simple atoms (Z = 2 to 10) are calculated using three different analytical approximations for the electronic density, and the results are compared with those obtained within the Hartree-Fock model.