The Central Field Approximation for Many Electron Atoms

Abstract

The solution to the Schrodinger equation in case of Hydrogen atom (single particle) can be solved exactly. But if we consider many electron atoms the Schrodinger equation could not solved exactly due to the electron-electron term makes the solution inseparable in single-particle coordinates. However, we can estimate the solutions using different methods. so from those methods the Central Field Approximation provides an excellent starting point to deal with a many-electron system and even if further improvements on this are available and often employed, the Central Field Approximation scheme itself serves a very large number of applications. A set of Quantum defect were also performed and the results have been compared with that of the experimental values. the term quantum defect is a measure of the difference betwen an energy level and the corresponding one in hydrogen. That is the extent to which an outer (valence) electron of a given angular momentum penetrates the inner shell of the atom. While comparing the experimental and calculated values, we have stressed the role of centeral field approximation in Quantum defect theory, some suggestions for improvement of the results are also disscussed