Nonlinear Field Theoretical Approaches to the Electron Density Amplitude Equation in Many-Electron Atoms and Molecules
In this paper we have presented a comparison of the effective one-body potentials arising in Thomas–Fermi (TF) phenomenology and density function (DF) theories on the one hand and the Method of Coherent Structures (MCS) on the other. In spite of a number of assumptions made in TF and DF, particularly in connection with the exchange component of the potential, quantitative agreement has been found with the MCS. In addition we have drawn attention to several similarities in the associated energy functionals. The Saxon–Woods potential, used in diverse contexts of many-body physics, has been shown to satisfy a nonlinear differential equation which can be transformed into a equation of the class satisfied by the classical field equation in the MCS. This indicates, once more, that there are intricate connections between phenomenological approaches, which attempt to incorporate many-body physical effects, and the systematic and unifying development offered within the MCS.