Vol. 3 No. 1 (2019)
Research Articles

Range separation: the divide between local structures and field theories

David M. Rogers
University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Ave., CHE 205, Tampa, FL 33620, US
Bio

Published 2019-03-31

Keywords

  • Electronic structure,
  • liquid state structure,
  • density functional theory,
  • Bayes’ theorem,
  • vapor interface,
  • molecular dynamics
  • ...More
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How to Cite

Rogers, D. M. (2019). Range separation: the divide between local structures and field theories. Substantia, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.13128/Substantia-208

Abstract

This work presents parallel histories of the development of two modern theories of condensed matter: the theory of electron structure in quantum mechanics, and the theory of liquid structure in statistical mechanics. Comparison shows that key revelations in both are not only remarkably similar, but even follow along a common thread of controversy that marks progress from antiquity through to the present. This theme appears as a creative tension between two competing philosophies, that of short range structure (atomistic models) on the one hand, and long range structure (continuum or density functional models) on the other. The timeline and technical content are designed to build up a set of key relations as guideposts for using density functional theories together with atomistic simulation.