1

If the Hamiltonian admits scattering states, as well as bound states, then we’ll
need an integral as well as a sum, but the argument is unchanged
2
There do exist exactly soluble three-body problems with many of the
qualitative features of helium, but using non - columbic potentials.
3
Here a is the ordinary Bohr radius and 𝐸𝑛 = − 13.6⁄𝑛2 𝑒𝑉 is nth Bohr
energy: recall that for a nucleus with anatomic number Z, 𝐸𝑛 → 𝑍 2 𝐸𝑛 and 𝑎 →
𝑎⁄𝑍. The spin configuration associated with Equation 7.5 will be anti symmetric
(the singlet)
4
You can, if you like, interpret 7.8 as first-order perturbation theory, with 𝐻 ′ =
𝑉𝑒𝑒 . However, I regrard this as a misuse of the method, since the perturbation is
comparable in size to the unperturberd potential. I prefer, therefore, to think of it as
a variational calculation, in which we are looking for an upper bound on 𝐸𝑔𝑠 .

5
The first excited state of helium can be calculated in much way the same way,
using a trial wave function orthogonal to ground state.