Time-dependent density functional theory for many-electron systems interacting with cavity photons

Abstract

Time-dependent (current) density functional theory for many-electron systems strongly coupled to quantized electromagnetic modes of a microcavity is proposed. It is shown that the electron-photon wave function is a unique functional of the electronic (current) density and the expectation values of photonic coordinates. The Kohn-Sham system is constructed, which allows to calculate the above basic variables by solving selfconsistent equations for noninteracting particles. We suggest possible approximations for the exchange-correlation potentials and discuss implications of this approach for the theory of open quantum systems.