Helium variational effective charge (${\zeta }_{\ast }=27/16$)

A product of two normalized $1s$ orbitals proportional to $e^{-\zeta r}$, combined with a singlet state, gives the fixed-nucleus helium atom trial energy $E(\zeta )={\zeta }^2-4\zeta +5\zeta /8$ in atomic units. Minimization gives $\zeta =27/16$ and $E=-729/256$ Hartree. Nuclear charge remains two in the Hamiltonian operator; varying $\zeta$ changes only the trial orbitals. The reduced orbital charge describes screening, while explicit dependence on electron separation can further lower the trial energy under the quantum variational principle.