High precision variational calculations for the Born-Oppenheimer energies of the ground state of the hydrogen molecule.

Born-Oppenheimer approximation Hylleraas variational calculations with up to 7034 expansion terms are reported for the 1sigma(g)+ ground state of neutral hydrogen at various internuclear distances. The nonrelativistic energy is calculated to be -1.174 475 714 220(1) hartree at R = 1.4 bohr, which is four orders of magnitude better than the best previous Hylleraas calculation, that of Wolniewicz [J. Chem. Phys. 103, 1792 (1995)]. This result agrees well with the best previous variational energy, -1.174 475 714 216 hartree, of Cencek (personal communication), obtained using explicitly correlated Gaussians (ECGs) [Cencek and Rychlewski, J. Chem. Phys. 98, 1252 (1993); Cencek et al., ibid. 95, 2572 (1995); Rychlewski, Adv. Quantum Chem. 31, 173 (1998)]. The uncertainty in our result is also discussed. The nonrelativistic energy is calculated to be -1.174 475 931 399(1) hartree at the equilibrium R = 1.4011 bohr distance. This result also agrees well with the best previous variational energy, -1.174 475 931 389 hartree, of Cencek and Rychlewski [Rychlewski, Handbook of Molecular Physics and Quantum Chemistry, edited by S. Wilson (Wiley, New York, 2003), Vol. 2, pp. 199-218; Rychlewski, Explicitly Correlated Wave Functions in Chemistry and Physics Theory and Applications, edited by J. Rychlewski (Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht, 2003), pp. 91-147.], obtained using ECGs.