The uniform electron gas

The uniform electron gas or UEG (also known as jellium) is one of the most fundamental models in condensed‐matter physics and the cornerstone of the most popular approximation—the local‐density approximation—within density‐functional theory. In this article, we provide a detailed review on the energetics of the UEG at high, intermediate, and low densities, and in one, two, and three dimensions. We also report the best quantum Monte Carlo and symmetry‐broken Hartree‐Fock calculations available in the literature for the UEG and discuss the phase diagrams of jellium. WIREs Comput Mol Sci 2016, 6:410–429. doi: 10.1002/wcms.1257 This article is categorized under: Structure and Mechanism > Molecular Structures Electronic Structure Theory > Ab Initio Electronic Structure Methods Electronic Structure Theory > Density Functional Theory