Performance of Thomas-Fermi and linear response approaches in periodic two-dimensional systems

A study of the performance of Thomas-Fermi and linear response theories in the case of a two-dimensional periodic model system is presented. The calculated density distribution and total energy per unit cell compare very well with exact results except when there is a small number of particles per cell, even though the potential has narrow tight-binding bands. The results supplement earlier findings of Koivisto and Stott for a localized impurity in a two-dimensional uniform gas.