Biomedical subjects

Giovanni Vignale

Publications and source records attributed to Giovanni Vignale.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Time-dependent density-functional theory beyond the local-density approximation.

Approximations for the ground-state exchange-correlation potential of density-functional theory have reached a high level of sophistication. By contrast, time- or frequency-dependent exchange-correlation potentials are still being treated in a local approximation. Here we propose a novel approximation scheme, which effectively brings the power of the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and meta-GGA to time-dependent density-functional theory. The theory should allow a more accurate treatment of strongly inhomogeneous electronic systems (e.g. molecular junctions) while remaining essentially exact for slowly varying densities and slowly varying external potentials.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2006

Relaxation in time-dependent current-density-functional theory.

We apply the time-dependent current-density-functional theory to the study of the relaxation of a closed many-electron system evolving from a nonequilibrium initial state. We show that the self-consistent unitary time evolution generated by the exchange-correlation vector potential irreversibly drives the system to equilibrium. We also show that the energy dissipated in the Kohn-Sham system, i.e., the noninteracting system whose particle and current densities coincide with those of the physical system under study, is related to the entropy production in the real system.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2005

Dynamical corrections to the DFT-LDA electron conductance in nanoscale systems.

Using time-dependent current-density functional theory, we derive analytically the dynamical exchange-correlation correction to the dc conductance of nanoscale junctions. The correction pertains to the conductance calculated in the zero-frequency limit of time-dependent density functional theory within the adiabatic local-density approximation. In particular, we show that in linear response, the correction depends nonlinearly on the gradient of the electron density; thus, it is more pronounced for molecular junctions than for quantum point contacts. We provide specific numerical examples to illustrate these findings.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2005

Temperature dependence of the tunneling amplitude between quantum hall edges.

Recent experiments have studied the tunneling current between the edges of a fractional quantum Hall liquid as a function of temperature and voltage. The results of the experiment are puzzling because at "high" temperature (600-900 mK) the behavior of the tunneling conductance is consistent with the theory of tunneling between chiral Luttinger liquids, but at low temperature it strongly deviates from that prediction dropping to zero with decreasing temperature. In this Letter we suggest a possible explanation of this behavior in terms of the strong temperature dependence of the tunneling amplitude.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2004

Spin mass of an electron liquid.

We show that in order to calculate correctly the spin current carried by a quasiparticle in an electron liquid one must use an effective "spin mass" m(s) that is larger than both the band mass m(b), which determines the charge current, and the quasiparticle effective mass m(*), which determines the heat capacity. We present two independent estimates of the spin mass enhancement, m(s)/m(b), in two- and three-dimensional electron liquids, based on (i) previously calculated values of the Landau parameters and (ii) a recent theory of the dynamical local field factor in the spin channel. Both methods yield a significant spin mass enhancement, which is larger in two dimensions than in three.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2003

Nonlinear quasiparticle tunneling between fractional quantum hall edges.

Remarkable nonlinearities in the differential tunneling conductance between fractional quantum Hall edge states at a constriction are observed in the weak-backscattering regime. In the nu=1/3 state a peak develops as temperature is increased and its width is determined by the fractional charge. In the range 2/3</=nu</=1/3 this width displays a symmetric behavior around nu=1/2. We discuss the consistency of these results with available theoretical predictions for interedge quasiparticle tunneling in the weak-backscattering regime.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2002

Spin dynamics from time-dependent spin-density-functional theory.

We derive the spin-wave dynamics of a magnetic material from the time-dependent spin-density-functional theory in the linear response regime. The equation of motion for the magnetization includes, besides the static spin stiffness, a "Berry curvature" correction and a damping term. A gradient expansion scheme based on the homogeneous spin-polarized electron gas is proposed for the latter two quantities, and the first few coefficients of the expansion are calculated to second order in the Coulomb interaction.

Journal Article↗