{
  "abstract": "Strong electron correlation is an important challenge to both wavefunction and density functional theory. It has been argued that the Perdew-Zunger 1981 self-interaction correction to any density functional approximation, after symmetry breaking, can correctly describe the ground-state energy in the strongly-correlated limit in which each electron is described by a highly-localized and non-overlapped one-electron spin orbital. It has also been argued that the classical limit, in which Planck's constant tends to zero, is the strongly-correlated limit of quantum mechanics, where standard density functionals fail badly, as demonstrated by the exactly-solvable problem of harmonium (two Coulomb-interacting electrons bound by a spherically-symmetric harmonic-oscillator external potential). Here we combine these two ideas and demonstrate that, for harmonium, symmetry-broken self-interaction correction is exact in the limit where Planck's constant tends to zero, and usefully accurate for all values between 0 and the physical value (1 in atomic units). We also show that the Planck-constant-dependent symmetric ground-state density can be restored by spherical averaging of the broken-symmetry density.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2607.22488",
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Cody Woods"
    },
    {
      "name": "Yunzhi Li"
    },
    {
      "name": "Wenqing Yao"
    },
    {
      "name": "Chen Li"
    },
    {
      "name": "John Perdew"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/1sm8mvd05mnef.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2607.22488",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "1sm8mvd05mnef",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.22488",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "cond-mat.str-el"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3107|Advanced Chemical Physics Studies"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7171468151",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2607.22488",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-12",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/1sm8mvd05mnef.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:21:25Z",
      "native_id": "2607.22488",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.22488"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:cond-mat.str-el",
      "subfield": "condensed-matter"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Exactness of Symmetry-Broken Self-Interaction Correction in the Strongly-Correlated or Classical Limit: Harmonium as a Demonstration",
  "title_text": "Exactness of Symmetry-Broken Self-Interaction Correction in the Strongly-Correlated or Classical Limit: Harmonium as a Demonstration",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:21:25Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/1sm8mvd05mnef",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}