Density-functional investigation of the stability of spin-density waves

Recent applications of and approximations to a novel density-functional approach to spin-density waves and antiferromagnetic systems are outlined. The nonlocal nature of the antiferromagnetic correlations and possible noncollinearity in spin space are described by a new fundamental variable, the staggered density, which supplements the spin densities of conventional density-functional theory. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.