The Helium Atom

Hydrogen has been a great laboratory for Quantum Mechanics. After Hydrogen, Helium is the simplest atom we can use to begin to study atomic physics. Helium has two protons in the nucleus ( $Z=2$), usually two neutrons ( $A=4$), and two electrons bound to the nucleus.

This material is covered in Gasiorowicz Chapters 18, in Cohen-Tannoudji et al. Complement $B_{XIV}$,and briefly in Griffiths Chapter 7.