- #1
darfunkel
- 3
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Hello forum, I'm new here. Please bear in mind I'm not a physicist, I'm sure you hear this a lot but anyway. I've recently taken an interest into quantum chemistry. So my question is the following:
I understand electronic and nucleic wave functions are complex. When they are multiplied by their complex conjugate, one obtains the probability of the particle being at that state. I've learned from computational chemistry sources that wave functions can be aproximated by using things such as Slater Type Orbitals and Gaussian Orbitals. However, these are real valued functions. Why is it that complex wavefunctions can be approximated using real valued functions?
Thanks in advance and excuse me if the answer is elementary.
D.
I understand electronic and nucleic wave functions are complex. When they are multiplied by their complex conjugate, one obtains the probability of the particle being at that state. I've learned from computational chemistry sources that wave functions can be aproximated by using things such as Slater Type Orbitals and Gaussian Orbitals. However, these are real valued functions. Why is it that complex wavefunctions can be approximated using real valued functions?
Thanks in advance and excuse me if the answer is elementary.
D.