configuration-interaction method

configuration-interaction method

[kən‚fig·yə¦rā·shən ‚in·tər′ak·shən ‚meth·əd] (atomic physics) A method of accounting for the electron correlation in an atom or molecule in which the total many-body wave function is expanded in a basis set and the coefficients in this expansion are determined by minimization of the expectation value of the energy.