Numerical Solutions of the Atomic Schrödinger Equation

Abstract

The methods for calculation of energies and wave functions presented in this book are mostly first approximations, aimed primarily at providing a physical understanding of atomic structure, and less at exact results. To achieve more precise theoretical values for atomic quantities, more sophisticated methods, involving ample computational resources, are needed. A detailed description of the associated methods is a subject that merits its own literature, and several such works exist. In this chapter, we give short accounts of the underlying ideas for a few numerical methods used for multielectron atoms.