Electrons Hartree-Fock approximation

It has already been pointed out several times that electron repulsion terms play a major part in the discussion of electronic excitation energies. Within the Hartree-Fock approximation, electron interaction in closed-shell ground states can be taken care of in a reasonable way using SCF methods. In a treatment of excited states, however, configuration interaction usually has to be taken into account. (Cf. Section 1.2.4.) This can be achieved either by semiempirical methods, especially in those cases where the jr approximation is sufficient for a discussion of light absorption, or, by ab initio methods in the case of small molecules. 

Another distinguishing aspect of MO methods is the extent to which they deal with electron correlation. The Hartree-Fock approximation does not deal with correlation between individual electrons, and the results are expected to be in error because of this, giving energies above the exact energy. MO methods that include electron correlation have been developed. The calculations are usually done using MoUer-Plesset perturbation theoiy and are designated MP calculations." ... 

In addition, if one goes beyond the Hartree-Fock approximation to something like the configuration interaction approach there is an important sense in which one has gone beyond the picture of a certain number of electrons into a set of orbitals.10 If one insists on picturing this, then rather than just every electron being in eveiy possible orbital... 

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... 

We see immediately the connection with the one-electron scheme, but we note that the emphasis is here on the word "complete, whereas, in the Hartree-Fock approximation, one is looking for a finite set of best spin orbitals. 

To properly describe electronic rearrangement and its dependence on both nuclear positions and velocities, it is necessary to develop a time-dependent theory of the electronic dynamics in molecular systems. A very useful approximation in this regard is the time-dependent Hartree-Fock approximation (34). Its combination with the eikonal treatment has been called the Eik/TDHF approximation, and has been implemented for ion-atom collisions.(21, 35-37) Approximations can be systematically developed from time-dependent variational principles.(38-41) These can be stated for wavefunctions and lead to differential equations for time-dependent parameters present in trial wavefunctions. 

The most famous case concerns the symmetry breaking in the Hartree-Fock approximation. The phenomenon appeared on elementary problems, such as H2, when the so-called unrestricted Hartree-Fock algorithms were tried. The unrestricted Hartree-Fock formalism, using different orbitals for a and p electrons, was first proposed by G. Berthier [5] in 1954 (and immediately after J.A. Pople [6] ) for problems where the number of a andp electrons were different. This formulation takes the freedom to deviate from the constraints of being an eigenfunction. 

Electron correlations show up in two ways in the measured cross sections. If the initial target state is well described by the independent particle Hartree-Fock approximation, the experimental orbital (6) is the Hartree-Fock orbital. Correlations in the ion can then lead to many transitions for ionisation from this orbital, rather than the expected single transition, the intensities of the lines being proportional to the spectroscopic factors S K... 

Mean-field approximation of quasi-free electrons (the Hartree-Fock approximation). The total wave function is described, in this case, by a single Slater determinant. 

Two different correlation effects can be distinguished. The first one, called dynamical electron correlation, comes from the fact that in the Hartree-Fock approximation the instantaneous electron repulsion is not taken into account. The nondynamical electron correlation arises when several electron configurations are nearly degenerate and are strongly mixed in the wave function. 

An alternative approach to conventional methods is the density functional theory (DFT). This theory is based on the fact that the ground state energy of a system can be expressed as a functional of the electron density of that system. This theory can be applied to chemical systems through the Kohn-Sham approximation, which is based, as the Hartree-Fock approximation, on an independent electron model. However, the electron correlation is included as a functional of the density. The exact form of this functional is not known, so that several functionals have been developed. 

The intraatomic d-d electron-electron interaction includes Coulomb and exchange interactions, and it is responsible for orbital and spin polarization. To account for orbital polarization, the idea of the LDA + U method was followed.70 A generalized Hartree-Fock approximation including all possible pairings was then used to write... 

Since rigorous theoretical treatments of molecular structure have become more and more common in recent years, there exists a definite need for simple connections between such treatments and traditional chemical concepts. One approach to this problem which has proved useful is the method of localized orbitals. It yields a clear picture of a molecule in terms of bonds and lone pairs and is particularly well suited for comparing the electronic structures of different molecules. So far, it has been applied mainly within the closed-shell Hartree-Fock approximation, but it is our feeling that, in the future, localized representations will find more and more widespread use, including applications to wavefunctions other than the closed-shell Hartree-Fock functions. 

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