DIMENSIONAL SCALING AND RENORMALIZATION

Chief features of dimensional scaling methods are exemplified by brief ly reviewing prototypical applications and recent developments. The ps eudoclassical large-D limit usually can be evaluated exactly regardles s of the magnitude, nature, and number of strong, nonseparable dynamic al interactions. Often, this limit can be accurately Linked to D = 3 b y perturbation or interpolation methods. This is because the dimension dependence of many-body effects tends to be smooth and mild when cali brated by appropriate one- or few-body problems. A simple renormalizat ion procedure applied to atoms with up N similar to 100 electrons yiel ds a major part of the correlation energy. From Hartree-Fock input, a renormalized nuclear charge is determined which renders the dimensiona lly scaled energy at D --> infinity a good approximation to that for D = 3 with the actual Z. Prospects are discussed for other means to exp loit dimensional scaling, including an analogous renormalization proce dure for molecules. (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.