Coverage of dynamic correlation effects by density functional theory functionals: Density-based analysis for neon

Abstract

The problem of linking the dynamic electron correlation effects defined in traditional ab initio methods [or wave function theories (WFTs)] with the structure of the individual density functional theory (DFT) exchange and correlation functionals has been analyzed for the Ne atom, for which nondynamic correlation effects play a negligible role. A density-based approach directly hinged on difference radial-density (DRD) distributions defined with respect the Hartree-Fock radial density has been employed for analyzing the impact of dynamic correlation effects on the density. Attention has been paid to the elimination of basis-set incompleteness errors. The DRD distributions calculated by several ab initio methods have been compared to their DFT counterparts generated for representatives of several generations of broadly used exchange-correlation functionals and for the recently developed orbital-dependent OEP2 exchange-correlation functional [Bartlett et al., J. Chem. Phys. 122, 034104 (2005)]. For the local, generalized-gradient, and hybrid functionals it has been found that the dynamic correlation effects are to a large extend accounted for by densities resulting from exchange-only calculations. Additional calculations with self-interaction corrected exchange potentials indicate that this finding cannot be explained as an artifact caused by the self-interaction error. It has been demonstrated that the VWN5 and LYP correlation functionals do not represent any substantial dynamical correlation effects on the electron density, whereas these effects are well represented by the orbital-dependent OEP2 correlation functional. Critical comparison of the present results with their counterparts reported in literature has been made. Some attention has been paid to demonstrating the differences between the energy- and density-based perspectives. They indicate the usefulness of density-based criteria for developing new exchange-correlation functionals.