Simple Products and Electron Exchange Symmetry

(/ j (l)(/ y (2) is an eigenfunction of //approx, and the eigenvalue E is equal to the sum of the orbital energies. These results are yet another example of the general rules stated in Section 2-7 for separable hamiltonians. Indeed, once we recognized that //approx is separable, we could have written these results down at once. 

Since the above terminology and results are so important for understanding many quantum-chemical calculations, we will summarize them here  

The hamiltonian for a multielectron system cannot be separated into one-electron parts without making some approximation. 

Ignoring interelectron repulsion operators is one way to allow separability. 

The one-electron operators in the resulting approximate hamiltonian for an atom are hydrogenlike ion hamiltonians. Their eigenfunctions are called atomic orbitals. 

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Section 5-2 Simple Products and Electron Exchange Symmetry... 

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