Mathieu Lewin

ERC Consolidator Grant on

Mathematics of Density Functional Theory (2017-22)

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Goal

Density Functional Theory (DFT) is one of the most famous methods used in quantum physics and chemistry to describe matter at the microscopic scale. The purpose of the ERC project is to investigate the mathematical foundations of this theory. The scientific part is divided into three main tasks. The first is focused on some important questions on the foundations of DFT, including excited states, its time-dependent formulation, and the local density approximation based on the uniform electron gas model. The second task deals with the derivation of simple DFT models from the true Schrödinger equation. Finally, the last task is devoted to the study of some particular nonlinear DFT models, which are particularly challenging from the mathematical point of view.

Team members

• Mathieu Lewin (Principal Investigator)
• Jean Cazalis (PhD student)
• Fabio Pizzichillo (Postdoc)
• Maxime Chupin (Research Engineer, Dauphine/CNRS)*
• Louis Garrigue (PhD Student, Dauphine/ENS)*
• David Gontier (Associate Professor, Dauphine)*
• Luca Nenna (Associate Professor, Paris-Sud)*
• Arnaud Triay (PhD Student, Dauphine/ENS Lyon)*

Former members

• Raphael Ducatez (PhD Student, Dauphine/ENS)*
• Faizan Nazar (Postdoc)

* financed from other (indicated) sources

Events

• January 2019: Conference on Optimal Transport Methods in Density Functional Theory, organized with Paola Gori-Giorgi, Luca Nenna and Brendan Pass

• May 2019: Workshop on Mean-field and other effective models in mathematical physics at the Fondation Les Treilles

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Funded by the European Research Council and managed by CNRS