Rev. Mod. Phys. 53, 603–641 (1981)Thomas-fermi and related theories of atoms and molecules
This article is a summary of what is know rigorously about Thomas-Fermi (TF) theory with and without the Dirac and von Weizsäcker corrections. It is also shown that TF theory agrees asymptotically, in a certain sense, with nonrelativistic quantum theory as the nuclear charge z tends to infinity. The von Weizsäcker correction is shown to correct certain undesirable features of TF theory and to yield a theory in much better agreement with what is believed (but as yet unproved) to be the structure of real atoms. Many open problems in the theory are presented. © 1981 American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/RevModPhys.53.603
DOI:
10.1103/RevModPhys.53.603
PACS:
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