Density-functional theory in one dimension for contact-interacting fermions

Abstract

A density functional theory is developed for fermions in one dimension, interacting via a delta-function. Such systems provide a natural testing ground for questions of principle, as the local density approximation should work well for short-ranged interactions. The exact-exchange contribution to the total energy is a local functional of the density. A local density approximation for correlation is obtained using perturbation theory and Bethe-Ansatz results for the one-dimensional contact-interacting uniform Fermi gas. The ground-state energies are calculated for two finite systems, the analogs of Helium and of Hooke's atom. The local approximation is shown to be excellent, as expected.