Effective interactions, large-scale diagonalization, and one-dimensional quantum dots

The widely used large-scale diagonalization method using harmonic oscillator basis functions (an instance of the Rayleigh-Ritz method [S. Gould, Variational Methods for Eigenvalue Problems: An Introduction to the Methods of Rayleigh, Ritz, Weinstein, and Aronszajn (Dover, New York, 1995)], also called a spectral method, configuration-interaction method, or “exact diagonalization” method) is systematically analyzed using results for the convergence of Hermite function series. We apply this theory to a Hamiltonian for a one-dimensional model of a quantum dot. The method is shown to converge slowly, and the nonsmooth character of the interaction potential is identified as the main problem with the chosen basis, while, on the other hand, its important advantages are pointed out. An effective interaction obtained by a similarity transformation is proposed for improving the convergence of the diagonalization scheme, and numerical experiments are performed to demonstrate the improvement. Generalizations to more particles and dimensions are discussed.