Density functional theory for hard particles in \(N\) dimensions (Q2346856)

The density functional theory is considered to be a cornerstone of many-particle physics. However, this approach typically relies on heuristic assumptions and no systematic derivation method for these functionals is known, neither in quantum theory nor in classical mechanics. The classical hard particles appear to provide an exception, where rigorous derivation tools are working. The departure point for the present paper is a replacement of a heuristic derivation of the Rosenfeld functional of hard convex particles by a systematic calculation of Mayer clusters by the author [``Deriving the Rosenfeld functional from the virial expansion'', Phys. Rev. E 85, 041150 (2012)]. It has been shown that each cluster integral further decomposes into diagrams of intersection patterns that were classified by their loop number. This actually extended the virial expansion of the free energy by an expansion in the loop order, with the Rosenfeld functional as its leading contribution. The major assumption was that classical hard particles are overlapping in one center and that of the spherical (shape) geometry. A generalization of this method to any number of intersections and non-spherical geometries is the main subject of the present paper. It is shown that each intersecting network corresponds to a specific class of Ree-Hoover diagrams. Summing over all graphs of a class and determining their combinatorial prefactors yields a generic functional, whose integrand factorizes into a convolute of integral kernels, one for each intersection center. The explicit form of the kernel is derived. Links with the Gauss Bonnet and Blaschke, Santalo, Chern equations of the integral geometry are exploited.