Reply to Comment by Holas and March
Abstract
Description
The accompanying Comment by A. Holas and N. H. March [Phys. Rev. A {\bf 66}, 066501 (2002)] is concerned with the issue of whether or not kinetic energy can be represented by an effective local potential, as required for an exact Thomas-Fermi theory equivalent to Kohn-Sham density-functional theory. They dispute [R.K. Nesbet, Phys. Rev. A {\bf 65}, 010502(R) (2001)], which concludes that for more than two electrons the use by Kohn and Sham of the Schrödinger kinetic energy operator is variationally correct, while the equivalent local potential required for a valid Thomas-Fermi theory, a Fréchet functional derivative of the Kohn-Sham ground-state kinetic energy functional, does not exist. The argument of Holas and March is clearly invalid for the simple example of the lowest triplet state of a two-electron atom with noninteracting electrons. Why this fails, as do earlier arguments in the literature, has been explained in recent publications, summarized here.
2pp resub to include title and author
2pp resub to include title and author