The Electronic Schrödinger Equation

Abstract

Atoms, molecules, and ions are described by the Schrödinger equation for a system of charged particles that interact by Coulomb attraction and repulsion forces. As the nuclei are much heavier than the electrons, the electrons almost instantaneously follow their motion. Therefore it is usual in quantum chemistry and related fields to separate the motion of the nuclei from that of the electrons and to start from the electronic Schrödinger equation, the equation that describes the motion of a finite set of electrons in the field of a finite number of clamped nuclei, or in other words to look for the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the electronic Hamilton operator