Electron correlation and the mechanism of atomic autoionization

This paper reviews the presented understanding of the nature of the quantum states of two-electron atoms. The exposition, a description of new insights into the dynamics of electron correlation nad origins of correlation-incuced autoionization are summarized. The uathor explores a number of ground state wave functions for two-electron systems H-, He, Li+ and Be+, including configurational functions and several Hylleraas-Kinoshita functions, from the very simple up to functions essentially indistinguishable to the eye from the best available functions and giving energies within less than 10-7 au of the best available value