Breit-Pauli and Direct Perturbation Theory Calculations of Relativistic Helium Polarizability

Large Gaussian-type geminal wave function expansions and direct perturbation theory (DPT) of relativistic effects have been applied to calculate the relativistic contribution to the static dipole polarizability of the helium atom. It has been demonstrated that DPT is superior for this purpose to traditional Breit-Pauli calculations. The resulting value of the molar polarizability of 4He is 0.517254(1) cm3 x mol(-1), including a literature estimate of QED effects. As a by-product, a very accurate value of the nonrelativistic helium second hyperpolarizability, gamma = 43.104227(1) atomic units (without the mass-polarization correction), has been obtained.