1. Hartree-Fock Self Consistent Field Method2+
actual situation: electrons with correlated motion

2. Hartree-Fock Self Consistent Field Method2+
Start e.g. with H functions
Sort electrons into orbitals, two for each orbital (Pauli Principle!)
Result: starting “population” of orbitals with electrons

3. Hartree-Fock Self Consistent Field Method2+
approximation: assume that all electrons except one are “smeared out”
only treat average field from electron population of orbitals
solve radial Schrödinger equation to get new shape of orbital

4. Hartree-Fock Self Consistent Field Method2+
repeat this, “focusing” once on each electron
result: “new & improved” radial functions for each electron

5. Hartree-Fock Self Consistent Field Method2+
Calculate total energy
Repeat previous step with “new & improved” functions until
no significant changes from one iteration to the next.