Over the past decade machine learning has made significant advances in approximating density functionals, but whether this signals the end of human-designed functionals remains to be seen. Ryan Pederson, Bhupalee Kalita and Kieron Burke discuss the rise of machine learning for functional design.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Relevant articles
Open Access articles citing this article.
-
Machine learning orbital-free density functional theory resolves shell effects in deformed nuclei
Communications Physics Open Access 01 August 2025
-
Convolutional network learning of self-consistent electron density via grid-projected atomic fingerprints
npj Computational Materials Open Access 24 October 2024
-
Generalizing deep learning electronic structure calculation to the plane-wave basis
Nature Computational Science Open Access 03 October 2024
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$32.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Douglas, M. R. Machine learning as a tool in theoretical science. Nat. Rev. Phys. 4, 145–146 (2022).
Austin, B. et al. Nersc-10 Workload Analysis (Data from 2018) (NERSC, 2020); https://portal.nersc.gov/project/m888/nersc10/workload/N10_Workload_Analysis.latest.pdf.
Cohen, A. J., Mori-Sánchez, P. & Yang, W. Challenges for density functional theory. Chem. Rev. 112, 289–320 (2012).
Snyder, J. C. et al. Finding density functionals with machine learning. Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 253002 (2012).
Brockherde, F. et al. Bypassing the Kohn-Sham equations with machine learning. Nat. Commun. 8, 872 (2017).
Nagai, R., Akashi, R. & Sugino, O. Completing density functional theory by machine learning hidden messages from molecules. npj Comput. Mater. 6, 43 (2020).
Li, L. et al. Kohn-Sham equations as regularizer: Building prior knowledge into machine-learned physics. Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 036401 (2021).
Kirkpatrick, J. et al. Pushing the frontiers of density functionals by solving the fractional electron problem. Science 374, 1385–1389 (2021).
Cruz, F. G., Lam, K.-C. & Burke, K. Exchange−correlation energy density from virial theorem. J. Phys. Chem. A 102, 4911 (1998).
Perdew, J. P. Artificial intelligence “sees” split electrons. Science 374, 1322–1323 (2021).
Acknowledgements
Work supported by DOE DE-SC0008696 (R.P.) and NSF CHE-2154371 (B.K., K.B.).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pederson, R., Kalita, B. & Burke, K. Machine learning and density functional theory. Nat Rev Phys 4, 357–358 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-022-00470-2
Published:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-022-00470-2
This article is cited by
-
Machine learning orbital-free density functional theory resolves shell effects in deformed nuclei
Communications Physics (2025)
-
Machine learning investigation of the effects of elemental doping on the mechanical properties of Fe-Cr-Ni-Al high-entropy alloys
Science China Technological Sciences (2025)
-
Lean CNNs for Mapping Electron Charge Density Fields to Material Properties
Integrating Materials and Manufacturing Innovation (2025)
-
Generalizing deep learning electronic structure calculation to the plane-wave basis
Nature Computational Science (2024)
-
Convolutional network learning of self-consistent electron density via grid-projected atomic fingerprints
npj Computational Materials (2024)