Quantum mechanics II–many body systems

Chapter 23 develops formalism relevant to atomic and molecular electronic structure. A review of the product Ansatz, the Slater determinant, and atomic configurations is followed by applications to small atoms. Then the self-consistent Hartree-Fock method is introduced and applied to larger atoms. Molecular structure is addressed by introducing an adiabatic separation of scales and the construction of molecular orbitals. The use of specialized bases for molecular computations is also discussed. Density functional theory and its application to complicated molecules is introduced and the local density approximation and the Kohn-Sham procedure for solving the functional equations are explained. Techniques for moving beyond the local density approximation are briefly reviewed.