Metric-space approach to potentials and its relevance to density-functional theory

External potentials play a crucial role in modeling quantum systems, since, for a given interparticle interaction, they define the system Hamiltonian. We use the metric-space approach to quantum mechanics to derive, from the energy conservation law, two natural metrics for potentials. We show that these metrics are well defined for physical potentials, regardless of whether the system is in an eigenstate or if the potential is bounded. In addition, we discuss the gauge freedom of potentials and how to ensure that the metrics preserve physical relevance. Our metrics for potentials, together with the metrics for wave functions and densities from I. D'Amico et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 050401 (2011)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.106.050401] paves the way for a comprehensive study of the two fundamental theorems of density-functional theory. We explore these by analyzing two many-body systems for which the related exact Kohn-Sham systems can be derived. First we consider the information provided by each of the metrics, and we find that the density metric performs best in distinguishing two many-body systems. Next we study for the systems at hand the one-to-one relationships among potentials, ground-state wave functions, and ground-state densities defined by the Hohenberg-Kohn theorem as relationships in metric spaces. We find that, in metric space, these relationships are monotonic and incorporate regions of linearity, at least for the systems considered. Finally, we use the metrics for wave functions and potentials in order to assess quantitatively how close the many-body and Kohn-Sham systems are: We show that, at least for the systems analyzed, both metrics provide a consistent picture, and for large regions of the parameter space the error in approximating the many-body wave function with the Kohn-Sham wave function lies under a threshold of 10%.