Physical interpretation of information entropy: Numerical evidence of the Collins conjecture

The conjecture by Collins that the correlation energy Ecorr is proportional to the information entropy as defined by Jaynes is examined. We present numerical evidence supporting this conjecture by computing atomic information entropies from highly correlated wave functions of configuration-interaction (CI) type for members of the lithium isoelectronic series. Sequences of increasingly larger basis sets are used to show how EcorrCI (CI correlation energy) is related to SJaynes. {} 1996 The American Physical Society.