Abstract
An analysis of the zero-energy positron-hydrogen and positron-helium systems using various approximations to the target ground-state wavefunction is presented. A modification of the normal Kohn variational method is used in which a quantity, aQ, which becomes the Kohn scattering length if the target wavefunction is exact, is related to the trial wavefunction Psi t through an integral expression. By comparing the results obtained with the definitive values for the positron-hydrogen system, it is conjectured that if the values of aQ display a local minimum when all the nonlinear parameters of Psi t are varied, then this local minimum of aQ is an upper bound on the exact scattering length. Using this criterion to analyse the positron-helium results, it is concluded that this method may be considered as an alternative to the 'method of models' procedure, since both methods give similar results.

This publication has 14 references indexed in Scilit: