Density functional calculations for liquid metal surfaces
Abstract
Various forms for the ion density profiles of Cs and Na have been tested in the density functional formalism. The large oscillations expected for Coulombic systems are largely suppressed by the pseudopotential. While oscillatory profiles give some improvement in surface tension, the values obtained are still about twice the experimental ones. It is concluded that the treatment of the pseudopotential or the gradient expansion of the functional is responsible for the unsatisfactory results obtained.