Abstract
We present the results of some new calculations on two atomic problems—the correlation energy in the ground state of 2-electron atoms, and elastic scattering of slow electrons from hydrogen atoms—to show the relative importance of various angular components of the complete wave function. We conclude that, as a general rule, the use of just (relative) and waves will give quite accurate answers—with only a few percent errors at most; but to obtain higher precision one should abandon the Legendre polynomial expansion and use the coordinate .
- Received 4 December 1961
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.126.1015
©1962 American Physical Society