Time-dependent density functional theory for many-electron systems interacting with cavity photons

TL;DR

This paper develops a time-dependent density functional theory framework for many-electron systems interacting with cavity photons, enabling self-consistent calculations of electron-photon dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel functional approach for electron-photon interactions in cavity QED systems, including a Kohn-Sham scheme and potential approximations.

Findings

Unique functional of electronic density and photonic coordinates established

Kohn-Sham equations derived for noninteracting system

Implications discussed for open quantum system modeling

Abstract

Time-dependent (current) density functional theory for many-electron systems strongly coupled to quantized electromagnetic modes of a microcavity is proposed. It is shown that the electron-photon wave function is a unique functional of the electronic (current) density and the expectation values of photonic coordinates. The Kohn-Sham system is constructed, which allows to calculate the above basic variables by solving selfconsistent equations for noninteracting particles. We suggest possible approximations for the exchange-correlation potentials and discuss implications of this approach for the theory of open quantum systems.