multiconfiguration Hartree-Fock approximation

multiconfiguration Hartree-Fock approximation

[‚məl·tē·kən‚fig·yə¦rā·shən ¦här‚trē ′fäk ə‚prok·sə‚mā·shən] (atomic physics) A natural extension of the Hartree-Fock approximation for an atom or molecule in which a number of configurations are chosen and the mixing coefficients, as well as the radial parts of the orbitals, are varied to minimize the expectation value of the energy. Abbreviated MCHF approximation.