The maximal excess charge in Müller density-matrix-functional theory

Abstract

We consider an atom described by Müller theory, which is similar to Hartree-Fock theory, but with a modified exchange term. We prove that a nucleus of charge Z can bind at most Z+C electrons, where C is a universal constant. Our proof proceeds by comparison with Thomas-Fermi theory and a key ingredient is a novel bound on the number of electrons far from the nucleus.

25 pages