INDONESIAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS
Vol 16, No 1 (2026): April

Calculating Ground State Energy of Helium by using Variational Monte Carlo Methods

Sri Purwaningsih (Program Studi Pendidikan Fisika, Universitas Jambi)
Nehru Nehru (Program Studi Pendidikan Fisika, Universitas Jambi)
Cicyn Riantoni (Program Studi Pendidikan Fisika, Universitas Jambi)



Article Info

Publish Date
04 Jun 2026

Abstract

Variational Quantum Monte Carlo (VQMC) is a computational approach that combines the variational principle of quantum mechanics with stochastic Monte Carlo integration to estimate ground-state properties of many-body systems. In this study, the VQMC method is employed to calculate the ground-state energy of the helium atom, a fundamental two-electron system that serves as a benchmark for testing quantum methods. The evaluation of multidimensional integrals arising in the expectation value of the Hamiltonian is performed using importance sampling based on the Metropolis algorithm, which enhances computational efficiency and accuracy. A key advantage of the VQMC approach lies in its flexibility in selecting analytically tractable trial wave functions, enabling systematic improvement of results through parameter optimization. Using an appropriately constructed trial wave function that incorporates electron–electron correlation effects, the calculated ground-state energy of helium is found to be −77.645 eV. This result shows good agreement with the exact reference value, demonstrating that the VQMC method provides reliable and accurate estimations for atomic systems. The findings confirm the effectiveness of VQMC as a powerful tool for solving quantum many-body problems. 

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Journal Info

Abbrev

ijap

Publisher

Subject

Astronomy Energy Materials Science & Nanotechnology Physics

Description

Indonesia Journal of Apllied Physics provides rapid publication of short reports and important research in all fields of physics. Indonesia Journal of Apllied Physics publishes articles that are of significance in their respective fields whilst also contributing to the disclipline of physics as a ...