We develop a generalized gradient expansion of the inhomogeneous dynamical mean-field theory method for determining properties of ultracold atoms in a trap. This approach goes beyond the well-known local density approximation and at higher temperatures, in the normal phase, it shows why the local density approximation works so well, since the local density and generalized gradient approximations are essentially indistinguishable from each other (and from the exact solution within full inhomogeneous dynamical mean-field theory). But because the generalized gradient expansion only involves nearest-neighbor corrections, it does not work as well at low temperatures, when the systems enter into ordered phases. This is primarily due to the problem that ordered phases often satisfy some global constraints, which determine the spatial ordering pattern, and the local density and generalized gradient approximations are not able to impose those kinds of constraints; they also overestimate the tendency to order. The theory is applied to phase separation of different mass fermionic mixtures represented by the Falicov-Kimball model and to determining the entropy per particle of a fermionic system represented by the Hubbard model. The generalized gradient approximation is a useful diagnostic for the accuracy of the local density approximation-when both methods agree, they are likely accurate, when they disagree, neither is likely to be correct.
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