Long-range exchange and correlation effects, responsible for the failure of currently used approximate density functionals in describing van der Waals forces, are taken into account explicitly after a separation of the electron-electron interaction in the Hamiltonian into short- and long-range components. We propose a “range-separated hybrid” functional based on a local density approximation for the short-range exchange-correlation energy, combined with a long-range exact exchange energy. Long-range correlation effects are added by a second-order perturbational treatment. The resulting scheme is general and is particularly well adapted to describe van der Waals complexes, such as rare gas dimers.

• Received 12 April 2005

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.72.012510