"Beyond the Thomas-Fermi approximation Inhomogeneity corrections without a gradient expansion" Berthold-Georg Englert

Speaker

Professor Berthold-Georg Englert, Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore

Abstract

Since von Weizsäcker's first attempt in 1935 at improving on the Thomas-Fermi approximation for many-fermion systems, there has been much effort in studying systematic gradient expansions. I'll discuss an alternative approach that exploits approximate factorizations of the unitary evolution operator. Rather than differentiating the effective potential energy at the reference position, as one does in the gradient-expansion method, one now integrates over a vicinity of the reference point. As a bonus of theses investigations, one also obtains highly accurate algorithms for dealing with Hamilton's equations of motion in classical phase space and the Schrödinger equation in quantum mechanics.

Looking forward to seeing many of you at the seminar!

Quantum Systems Unit