M Harbola - An Introduction to Density Functional Theory

PROGRAM: STRONGLY CORRELATED SYSTEMS: FROM MODELS TO MATERIALS

DATES: Monday 06 Jan, 2014 - Friday 17 Jan, 2014

VENUE: Department of Physics, IISc Campus, Bangalore

PROGRAM LINK : http://www.icts.res.in/program/MTM2014

The realistic description of materials with strong electron-electron interactions is one of the challenges of modern condensed matter physics. Such a realistic description on one hand requires non-perturbative many body approaches, and on the other hand requires model Hamiltonian with material specific details offered by density functional theory (DFT). Mastering these novel techniques requires a wide background, ranging from DFT to model building and non-perturbative many body approaches such as Quantum Monte Carlo. During the last few years a major breakthrough came with the development of the DFT+Dynamical Mean Field Theory (DFT+DMFT) method. In this approach, conventional ab-initio schemes based on DFT are combined with a modern many-body approach, the dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT). In the DMFT method the full many body problem of solid state physics is mapped onto a quantum impurity model related by a self-consistency condition and the resulting impurity model is solved using non-perturbative many body techniques.

The present program has this circle of ideas as its focus. It is built around three Chandrasekhar lectures to be delivered by Prof A. Georges. In addition to these lectures there will be a school, divided into two parts, and a discussion meeting, scheduled between the two parts of the school, in which recent theoretical and experimental results on strongly correlated materials will be discussed by leading experts from India and abroad.

The school will be devoted to the following topics.

School Part I : Jan 6 -- Jan 9, 2014

a) Basic Density Functional Theory (DFT) and basis sets

b) Wannier functions

c) An introduction to many-body methods and Quantum Monte Carlo

d) Constrained LDA/RPA and Estimation of U and J

School Part II : Jan 14 -- Jan 17, 2014

a) Dynamical Mean Field Theory (DMFT)

b) Impurity Solvers

c) GW+DMFT

d) DFT+DMFT

The program is designed to educate advanced graduate students and young post-doctoral fellows in this emerging field of strongly correlated systems and to train them to carry out numerical calculations.