Slater determinant

English Etymology Named after John C. Slater, who introduced the determinant in 1929 as a means of ensuring the antisymmetry of a many-electron wavefunction, although the wavefunction in the determinant form first appeared independently in Heisenberg's and Dirac's articles three years earlier. Noun en quantum mechanics An expression that describes the wavefunction of a multifermionic system. It satisfies antisymmetry requirements, and consequently the Pauli exclusion principle, by changing sign upon exchange of two electrons (or other fermions). en eponyms