Exchange functionals based on finite uniform electron gases

Abstract

We show how one can construct \alert{a simple} exchange functional by extending the well-know local-density approximation (LDA) to finite uniform electron gases. This new generalized local-density approximation (GLDA) functional uses only two quantities: the electron density $\rho$ and the curvature of the Fermi hole $\alpha$. This alternative "rung 2" functional can be easily coupled with generalized-gradient approximation (GGA) functionals to form a new family of "rung 3" meta-GGA (MGGA) functionals that we have named factorizable MGGAs (FMGGAs). Comparisons are made with various LDA, GGA and MGGA functionals for atoms and molecules.