Jellium, also known as the uniform electron gas (UEG) or homogeneous electron gas (HEG), is a quantum mechanical model of interacting electrons in a solid where the positive charges (i.e. atomic nuclei) are assumed to be uniformly distributed in space; the electron density is a uniform quantity as well in space. This model allows one to focus on the effects in solids that occur due to the quantum nature of electrons and their mutual repulsive interactions (due to like charge) without explicit introduction of the atomic lattice and structure making up a real material. Jellium is often used in solid-state physics as a simple model of delocalized electrons in a metal, where it can qualitatively reproduce features of real metals such as screening, plasmons, Wigner crystallization and Friedel oscillations. At zero temperature, the properties of jellium depend solely upon the constant electronic density. This property lends it to a treatment within density functional theory; the formalism itself provides the basis for the local-density approximation to the exchange-correlation energy density functional. The term jellium was coined by Conyers Herring in 1952, alluding to the "positive jelly" background, and the typical metallic behavior it displays. The jellium model treats the electron-electron coupling rigorously. The artificial and structureless background charge interacts electrostatically with itself and the electrons. The jellium Hamiltonian for N electrons confined within a volume of space Ω, and with electronic density ρ(r) and (constant) background charge density n(R) = N/Ω is where Hel is the electronic Hamiltonian consisting of the kinetic and electron-electron repulsion terms: Hback is the Hamiltonian of the positive background charge interacting electrostatically with itself: Hel-back is the electron-background interaction Hamiltonian, again an electrostatic interaction: Hback is a constant and, in the limit of an infinite volume, divergent along with Hel-back.

About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Related courses (3)
PHYS-619: Many-Body Approaches to Quantum Fluids
Starting from a microscopic description, the course introduces to the physics of quantum fluids focusing on basic concepts like Bose-Einstein condensation, superfluidity, and Fermi liquid theory.
PHYS-639: Field Theory in Condensed Matter Physics
Topics covered: Superfluidity in weakly interacting Bose gas, the random phase approximation to the Coulomb interaction in the Jellium model, superconductivity within the random phase approximation, t
CH-353: Introduction to electronic structure methods
Repetition of the basic concepts of quantum mechanics and main numerical algorithms used for practical implementions. Basic principles of electronic structure methods:Hartree-Fock, many body perturbat
Related concepts (5)
Nearly free electron model
In solid-state physics, the nearly free electron model (or NFE model and quasi-free electron model) is a quantum mechanical model of physical properties of electrons that can move almost freely through the crystal lattice of a solid. The model is closely related to the more conceptual empty lattice approximation. The model enables understanding and calculation of the electronic band structures, especially of metals. This model is an immediate improvement of the free electron model, in which the metal was considered as a non-interacting electron gas and the ions were neglected completely.
Free electron model
In solid-state physics, the free electron model is a quantum mechanical model for the behaviour of charge carriers in a metallic solid. It was developed in 1927, principally by Arnold Sommerfeld, who combined the classical Drude model with quantum mechanical Fermi–Dirac statistics and hence it is also known as the Drude–Sommerfeld model.
Electric-field screening
In physics, screening is the damping of electric fields caused by the presence of mobile charge carriers. It is an important part of the behavior of charge-carrying fluids, such as ionized gases (classical plasmas), electrolytes, and charge carriers in electronic conductors (semiconductors, metals). In a fluid, with a given permittivity ε, composed of electrically charged constituent particles, each pair of particles (with charges q1 and q2) interact through the Coulomb force as where the vector r is the relative position between the charges.
Show more

Graph Chatbot

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.