In quantum mechanics, a Slater determinant is an expression that describes the wave function of a multi-fermionic system. It satisfies anti-symmetry requirements, and consequently the Pauli principle, by changing sign upon exchange of two electrons (or other fermions).[1] Only a small subset of all possible fermionic wave functions can be written as a single Slater determinant, but those form an important and useful subset because of their simplicity.
The Slater determinant arises from the consideration of a wave function for a collection of electrons, each with a wave function known as the spin-orbital , where denotes the position and spin of a single electron. A Slater determinant containing two electrons with the same spin orbital would correspond to a wave function that is zero everywhere.
The Slater determinant is named for John C. Slater, who introduced the determinant in 1929 as a means of ensuring the antisymmetry of a many-electron wave function,[2] although the wave function in the determinant form first appeared independently in Heisenberg's[3] and Dirac's[4][5] articles three years earlier.