Density-functional theory of freezing of quantum liquids at zero temperature using exact liquid-state linear response

Abstract

We apply density functional theory to study the freezing of superfluid {$^{4}\rm{He}$}, charged bosons and charged fermions at zero temperature. We employ accurate Quantum Monte Carlo data for the linear response function in the uniform phase of these systems, a quantity that has different behavior for large values of the wavevector than previously assumed. We find that, as a result of this {\it{exact}} behavior, different approximations in the density functional theory of freezing that involve linear response, all fail to correctly describe the crystallization in {\it{three dimensions}}, while yielding satisfactory predictions in {\it{two dimensions}}. This demonstrates the shortcomings of the currently popular density functional approximate theories to describe $3d$-freezing in the quantum regime. We also investigate the consequences of the exact asymptotic behavior of response functions on the form of effective interactions and polarization potentials in the electron gas, at small distances.