Foundations of stochastic time-dependent current-density functional theory for open quantum systems: Potential pitfalls and rigorous results

Abstract

We clarify some misunderstandings on the time-dependent current density functional theory for open quantum systems we have recently introduced [M. Di Ventra and R. D'Agosta, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 98}, 226403 (2007)]. We also show that some of the recent formulations attempting to improve on this theory suffer from some inconsistencies, especially in establishing the mapping between the external potential and the quantities of interest. We offer a general argument about this mapping, showing that it must fulfill certain "dimensionality" requirements.