Take as a a trial function for the ground state of the hydrogen atom (a) e−kr, (b) e−kr^2 and use the variational principle to find the optimal value of k in each case. Identify the better wavefunction. The only part of the laplacian that need be considered is the part that involves radial derivatives.

Take as a a trial function for the ground state of the hydrogen atom (a) e−kr, (b) e−kr^2 and use the variational principle to find the optimal value of k in each case. Identify the better wavefunction. The only part of the laplacian that need be considered is the part that involves radial derivatives.