Electronic Structure of Matter: Wave Functions and Density Functionals.

Since the 1920's Schroedinger wave functions have been the principal theoretical concept for understanding and computing the electronic structure of matter. More recently, Density Functional Theory (DFT), couched in terms of the electronic density distribution, n(r), has provided a new perspective and new computational possibilities, especially for systems consisting of very many (up to ~1000) atoms. In this talk some fundamental limitations of wave function methods for very-many-atom-systems will be discussed. The DFT approach will be explained together with some physical/chemical applications and a discussion of its strenghts and weaknesses.