On the Hylleraas Coordinates

Abstract

The Hylleraas coordinates $s=r_{1}+r_{2}$, $t=r_{1}-r_{2}$, $u=|{\bf r}_{1}-{\bf r}_{2}|$ are the natural coordinates for the determination of properties of the Helium atom, the positive ions of its isoelectronic sequence, and the negative Hydrogen ion. In this paper, we derive a new expression for integrals representing properties such as the energy, normalization and expectation of arbitrary operators, as written in the $(s,t,u)$ coordinates. The expression derived is valid for both \emph{finite} and \emph{infinite} space. The integrals for the various properties are comprised in each case of two components $A$ and $B$. The contribution of these components to the volume of integration and the normalization of a wave function for finite space, and in variational calculations of the ground state energy of the Helium atom confined in a finite volume is demonstrated by example. We prove that when the integration space is \emph{infinite}, the expression for the energy and other properties employed by Hylleraas corresponds \emph{only} to that of integral $A$. We further prove that for the approximate variational wave functions employed by Hylleraas and other authors, the contribution of the term $B$ vanishes. This contribution also vanishes for the exact wave function. It is interesting to note that the component $B$ to the integral is not mentioned in the literature. A principle purpose of the paper, therefore, is to point out the existence of this term.