Structure of free complement wavefunction for the ground and the first excited state of helium atom

Abstract

We review the fundamental ideas of free complement (FC) method through its application on both ground and first excited states of helium atom. We have found that lower energies can be obtained with fewer number of terms in the FC expansion of the ground state wavefunction. In this case, the optimization of orbital exponents was not necessary for achieving spectroscopic accuracy, especially at higher orders where the structure of the FC wavefunction converges to that of the exact one. We have discovered that permanents naturally appear in the FC expansion of the first triplet excited state wavefunction. Including permanents in the FC expansion is shown to be energetically important for the first triplet excited state of helium atom whereas it is not computationally favorable at higher orders. Finally, considering the group theoretical properties of the symmetric group [Formula: see text] and using immanants, a compact and more elegant form for the FC expansion of the first triplet excited state of the helium atom is achieved.