A quantum Monte Carlo approach to the adiabatic connection method

Abstract We present a new method for realizing the adiabatic connection approach in density functional theory, which is based on combining accurate variational quantum Monte Carlo calculations with a constrained optimization of the ground state many-body wavefunction for different values of the Coulomb coupling constant. We use the method to study an electron gas in the presence of a cosine-wave potential. For this system we present results for the exchange-correlation hole and exchange-correlation energy density, and compare our findings with those from the local density approximation and generalized gradient approximation.