Approximation Hartree-Fock-Pauli

As we shall see later on, for a large variety of atoms and ions the relativistic effects can be accounted for fairly precisely in the framework of the so-called Hartree-Fock-Pauli (HFP) approximation, as corrections of the order a2 (a = e1 /he is the fine structure constant and c stands for the velocity of light). Then, energy operator H will have the form... 

The correlation error can, of course, be defined with reference to the Hartree scheme but, in modem literature on electronic systems, one usually starts out from the Hartree-Fock approximation. This means that the main error is due to the neglect of the Coulomb correlation between electrons with opposite spins and, unfor-tunetely, we can expect this correlation error to be fairly large, since we force pairs of electrons with antiparallel spins together in the same orbital in space. The background for this pairing of the electrons is partly the classical formulation of the Pauli principle, partly the mathematical fact that a single determinant in such a case can... 

While using (4.14) and exact wave functions. This supports the conclusion of Drake [83] that for electric dipole transitions, by considering the commutator of with the atomic Hamiltonian in the Pauli approximation, we obtain Qwith relativistic corrections of order v2/c2 (see (4.18)-(4.20)). However, for many-electron atoms and ions, one has to use approximate (e.g., Hartree-Fock) wave functions, and then this term gives non-zero contribution, conditioned by the inaccuracy of the model adopted. 

Under the Hartree-Fock (i.e., HF) approximation, the function of in variables for the solutions of the electronic Hamiltonian is reduced to n functions, which are referenced as molecular orbitals (MOs), each dependent on only three variables. Each MO describes the probability distribution of a single electron moving in the average field of all other electrons. Because of the requirements of the Pauli principle or antisymmetry with respect to the interchange of any two electrons, and indistinguishability of electrons, the HF theory is to approximate the many-electron wavefunction by an antisymmetrized product of one-electron wavefunctions and to determine these wavefunctions by a variational condition applied to the expected value of the Hamiltonian in the resulting one-electron equations,... 

For anything but the most trivial systems, it is not possible to solve the electronic Schrodinger equation exactly, and approximate techniques must instead be used. There exist a variety of approximate methods, including Hartree-Fock (HF) theory, single- and multireference correlated ab initio methods, semiempirical methods, and density functional theory. We discuss each of these in turn. In Hartree-Fock theory, the many-electron wavefunction vF(r1, r2,..., r ) is approximated as an antisymmetrized product of one-electron wavefunctions, ifijfi) x Pauli principle. This antisymmetrized product is known as a Slater determinant. 

One of the main reasons for the good results obtained with the Hartree-Fock SCF method in electronic structure calculations for atoms and molecules is that the electrons keep away from each other due to the Pauli exclusion principle. This reduces the correlation between them, and provides a basis for the validity of the independent-particle model. The question arises as to the mechanisms that account for the validity of the SCF approximation in the vibrational case, which are obviously quite unrelated to the Pauli principle. 

As the exact electronic eigenfunction is known to possess these properties it is clearly best to ensure that our approximate eigenfunction also possesses them. Most of the methods do this the exception being a variant of the Hartree-Fock method called the unrestricted Hartree-Fock method (UHF) which yields wavefu notions which are not eigenfunctions of S2 (see below). The Pauli principle is of central importance, and the problem of constructing approximate wavefunctions which obey it is considered below. 

Whatever physical reasons may exist for the correlated behaviour of the electrons—electron repulsion or Pauli anti symmetry principle—the effect is always to modify the electron-repulsion energy calculated from the electron distribution of the system. In the Hartree-Fock (HF) approximation one solves equations describing the behaviour of each electron in the averaged filed of the remaining (n—1) electrons. However the motions of the [n(n—1)]/2 pairs of electrons are correlated and the electron correlation energy is defined as... 

The Hartree Fock determinant describes a situation where the electrons move independently of one another and where the probability of finding one electron at some point in space is independent of the positions of the other electrons. To introduce correlation among the electrons, we must allow the electrons to interact among one another beyond the mean field approximation. In the orbital picture, such interactions manifest themselves through virtual excitations from one set of orbitals to another. The most important class of interactions are the pairwise interactions of two electrons, resulting in the simultaneous excitations of two electrons from one pair of spin orbitals to another pair (consistent with the Pauli principle that no more than two electrons may occupy the same spatial orbital). Such virtual excitations are called double excitations. With each possible double excitation in the molecule, we associate a unique amplitude, which represents the probability of this virtual excitation happening. The final, correlated wave function is obtained by allowing all such virtual excitations to happen, in all possible combinations. 

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