How to solve the problem of dynamical correlation of electrons in the ground state helium atom?
It is found that, for the ground state helium atom, a stationary wave function obtained from the stationary Shrodinger equation for one of the interacting electrons is much more physically meaningful than that from the equation for both electrons. Hamiltonian includes one-electron Laplacian and operators of electron–nuclear attraction and electron–electron repulsion. Corresponding energy is equal to the first ionization potential. This approach recovers evident insufficiency of summation of potential energies accompanied by determination of kinetic energy from the virial relation. It appears that the kinetic energy must be determined independently. The kinetic energy of both electrons lowers due to inertia of the electron movement. It demands for a time-resolved consideration of the electron movement in helium. The total energy cannot be minimized in one step, that is, by help of a single stationary wave function. It should be minimized with means of two wave functions in accord with experimental sequential ionization. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2011