Comparison of the spherically averaged pseudopotential model with the stabilized jellium model

Abstract

We compare Kohn - Sham results (density, cohesive energy, size and effect of charging) of the spherically averaged pseudopotential model with the stabilized jellium model for clusters of sodium and aluminium with less than 20 atoms. We find that the stabilized jellium model, although conceptually and practically simpler, gives better results for the cohesive energy and the elastic stiffness. We use the local density approximation as well as the generalized gradient approximation for the exchange and correlation energies.