Ground state of two electrons on a sphere

Abstract

We have performed a comprehensive study of the singlet ground state of two electrons on the surface of a sphere of radius $R$. We have used electronic structure models ranging from restricted and unrestricted Hartree-Fock theory to explicitly correlated treatments, the last of which lead to near-exact wavefunctions and energies for any value of $R$. M{\o}ller-Plesset energy corrections (up to fifth-order) are also considered, as well as the asymptotic solution in the large-$R$ regime.