Self-consistent field method

The self-consistent field method is a numerical approximation algorithm for solving\nthe Schrödinger equation for isolated molecules in the ground state.\nThe interaction of a single electron in a many body problem with\nthe remaining electrons is approximated by averaging it to resemble a two body\ninteraction. In this way the total energy of a molecule can be obtained. \nCorrelation energy is ignored in this method. \nFurther developments of SCF are CASSCF and configuration interaction.\nCalculations of this type are normally performed on supercomputers,\nto date only powerful enough to predict properties of small molecules.\nSoftware packages used include Gaussian, Molcas, NWChem, and MOLPRO.\nFreely available are MPQC and Psi3.