Partial Separability of the Schrödinger Equation Combined with a Jastrow Factor

Abstract

Describing the Coulomb interactions between electrons in atomic or molecular systems is an important step to help us obtain accurate results for the different observables in the system. One convenient approach is to separate the dynamic electronic correlation, i.e., Coulomb electron−electron repulsion, from the motion of the electrons in the nucleus electric field. The wave function is written as the product of two terms, one accounting for the electron−electron interactions, which is symmetric under identical particle exchange, and the other is antisymmetric and represents the dynamics and exchange of electrons within the nuclear electric field. In this work, we present a novel computational scheme based on this idea that leads to an expression of the energy as the sum of two terms. To illustrate the method, we look into few body Coulombic systems, H2, H3+, and Li(1s2,2s), and discuss the possible extension to larger systems. A simple correlation factor, based on the Jastrow exponential term, is employed to represent the dynamics of the electron pairs, leading to simple analytical forms and accurate results. We also present and illustrate a different approach with the Li atom based on the partial separability applied to a portion of the atom.