Hartree-Fock approximation, finite-size

The HF equations are approximate mainly because they treat electron-electron repulsion approximately (other approximations are mentioned in the answer suggested for Chapter 5, Harder Question 1). This repulsion is approximated as resulting from interaction between two charge clouds rather than correctly, as the force between each pair of point-charge electrons. The equations become more exact as one increases the number of determinants representing the wavefunctions (as well as the size of the basis set), but this takes us into post-Hartree-Fock equations. Solutions to the HF equations are exact because the mathematics of the solution method is rigorous successive iterations (the SCF method) approach an exact solution (within the limits of the finite basis set) to the equations, i.e. an exact value of the (approximate ) wavefunction l m.. 

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