Development of New Density Functional Approximations.

Kohn-Sham density functional theory has become the leading electronic structure method for atoms, molecules, and extended systems. It is in principle exact, but any practical application must rely on density functional approximations (DFAs) for the exchange-correlation energy. Here we emphasize four aspects of the subject: (a) philosophies and strategies for developing DFAs; (b) classification of DFAs; (c) major sources of error in existing DFAs; and (d) some recent developments and future directions.