Stationary properties of the entropy as a functional of the pair correlation and their application to DFT calculations of free energy

ORAL

Abstract

We propose that within the class of pair potential Hamiltonians the excess entropy is a universal, temperature-independent functional of the density and pair correlation. This result extends Henderson's Theorem which states that the free energy is a temperature dependent functional of the density and pair correlation. The stationarity and convexity of the excess entropy functional are discussed and related to the Gibbs-Bogoliubov inequality and to the free energy. An approximate functional is given and compared to results from thermodynamic integration. We propose that a functional of this type, that is strictly applicable to pair potentials is also suitable for first principles calculation of free energies from Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics performed at a single temperature.

*Support was provided by the University of Tennessee Computational Sciences Initiative, by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program of ORNL and by the DMSE, Office of Basic Energy Science of the US Department of Energy, managed by UT-Battel

Authors

  • Donald Nicholson

    • ORNL
    • Oak Ridge National Laboratory
  • C.Y. Gao

    • Oak Ridge National Laboratory
  • D.J. Keffer

    • University of Tennessee, Knoxville