"Thomas-Fermi-pseudopotential" approach for calculating the static properties of simple metals

A completely local-density energy-functional pseudopotential study is performed to analyze the static properties of several simple metals. The great advantages of calculating the electronic structure of solids with local-density energy-functional approaches, or "Thomas-Fermi" approaches, are that these approaches, unlike fully quantum-mechanical treatments, possess the attributes of simplicity, flexibility, and physical immediacy. The local-energy-density functional can yield accurate static properties provided we employ "hard-core" pseudopotentials which have been derived from atomic charge densities. Moreover, our approach allows a real-space decomposition of the various energy contributions to cohesion.