Variational description of the helium trimer using correlated hyperspherical harmonic basis functions

A variational wave function constructed with correlated hyperspherical harmonic functions is used to describe the Helium trimer. This system is known to have a deep bound state. In addition, different potential models predict the existence of a shallow excited state that has been identified as an Efimov state. Using the Rayleigh-Ritz variational principle, the energies and wave functions of both bound states have been obtained by solving a generalized eigenvalue problem. The introduction of a suitable correlation factor reduces considerably the dimension of the basis needed to accurately describe the structure of the system. The most recent helium-helium interactions have been investigated.