  We propose a novel scheme to bring reduced density matrix functional theory
(RDMFT) into the realm of density functional theory (DFT) that preserves the
accurate density functional description at equilibrium, while incorporating
accurately static and left-right correlation effects in molecules and keeping
the good computational performance of DFT-based schemes. The key ingredient is
to relax the requirement that the local potential is the functional derivative
of the energy with respect to the density. Instead, we propose to restrict the
search for the approximate natural orbitals within a domain where these
orbitals are eigenfunctions of a single-particle hamiltonian with a local
effective potential. In this way, fractional natural occupation numbers are
accommodated into Kohn-Sham equations allowing for the description of molecular
dissociation without breaking spin symmetry. Additionally, our scheme provides
a natural way to connect an energy eigenvalue spectrum to the approximate
natural orbitals and this spectrum is found to represent accurately the
ionization potentials of atoms and small molecules.
