As an improvement over the Hartree-Fock approximation, we investigate a Green’s Function method—theΣ perturbation method—for molecular calculations. The method is applied to hydrogen molecule and to theπ-electron system of ethylene under PPP approximation. When the algebraic approximation is used, the energy obtained is better than that of the HF approach, but is not as good as that of the configuration-interaction method. The main advantage of this procedure is that it is devoid of the most serious defect of HF method, viz. incorrect dissociation limits.

Two methods, which are expected to lead to results better than those of theΣ perturbation approach given earlier are investigated. Within the algebraic approximation, the methods are applied to the hydrogen molecule and to ethylene in the Pariser-Parr-Pople (PPP) approximation. Both the methods are seen to suffer from the defect of not conserving the number of particles in the system. The methods are (a) the use of a partitioning other than Hartee-Fock. Due to the non-conservation of particle number, the method does not seem to be suited for the calculation of the ground state energy, but it gives good results for ionisation potentials. The investigation reveals that the only partitioning which conserves the number of particles is the Hartree-Fock partitioning (b) the renormalisedΣ perturbation method, suggested by Csnak and others. For ethylene in the PPP approximation, the method does conserve the number of particles (but not in general). However, the energy obtained is not as good as that in theΣ perturbation method. This method therefore seems to be of limited applicability in molecular calculations.

The short range interactions in He₂, Ne₂ and Ar₂ have been studied in terms of the electronic forces as functions of their internuclear separations employing their single configuration SCF wave functions. The results show that the constituent molecular orbitals behave differently in terms of the forces they exert on the nuclei during the interaction process. The different behaviour of the orbitals is also reflected in the redistribution of charges.