Ground State Energy of Helium Atom - Integration problem

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on calculating the ground state energy of the Helium atom using perturbation theory, specifically addressing the integral C defined as C=\frac{1}{(4\pi)^2}\int d\mathbf{z}_1d\mathbf{z}_2\frac{\exp(-(z_1+z_2))}{|\mathbf{z}_1-\mathbf{z}_2|}. The vectors z_1 and z_2 represent dimensionless rescalings of the position vectors of the two electrons, with the Bohr radius a as a scaling factor. The user is seeking guidance on simplifying the integral, particularly by aligning the z_2 vector along the z-axis to facilitate computation. Recommended resources for further reading include Cohen-Tannoudji's second volume and Bethe & Salpeter's treatment of the Helium atom.

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thepopasmurf
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I'm trying to follow a derivation of the ground state energy of Helium using perturbation theory. I've made it through most of the derivation but I'm stuck at the following integral

Homework Statement



Find the value of C where

C=\frac{1}{(4\pi)^2}\int d\mathbf{z}_1d\mathbf{z}_2\frac{\exp(-(z_1+z_2))}{|\mathbf{z}_1-\mathbf{z}_2|}

To give context to this equation, the vectors z_1 and z_2 are dimensionless rescalings of the position vectors (r_1 r_2) of the two electrons.
\mathbf{r}_1=\frac{a}{2}\mathbf{z}_1
\mathbf{r}_2=\frac{a}{2}\mathbf{z}_2

where a is the Bohr radius.

The integral is to be taken all over space.

Homework Equations



Don't think there are any

The Attempt at a Solution



integrating wrt to z_1 first:

\frac{1}{(4\pi)^2} \int z_1^2 \sin^2\theta_1 dz_1 d\theta_1 d\phi_1 \frac{\exp{z_1+z_2}}{\sqrt{z_{1}^2 + z_{2}^2 - 2z_1 z_2 \cos\theta_{12}}}d\mathbf{z}_2

I basically don't know where to go from here. My first idea to simplify was to make the integral relative and set the z_2 vector to always be the z-axis of the coordinate frame (thus eliminating an angle) but I still couldn't do the integral itself.

Thanks,
 
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I think it is discussed in books. You should use certain coordinates (don't remember which), which would simplify the 6-tuple integration.

Books? Cohen-Tannoudji 2nd volume. Bethe & Salpeter (which treat the Helium atom perturbatively), Bransden & Joachain, etc.
 

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