The objectives of the proposed research are (i) to obtain an extremely accurate value for the non-relativistic ground-state energy of Li I; (ii) to calculate the relativistic contributions to the ground state energy of Li I; (iii) to combine the results of (i) and (ii) to obtain the absolute ground state Lamb shift for Li I; (iv) to calculate other members of the Li I isoelectronic series to determine the Z-dependent behavior of the ground state Lamb shift; and (v) to extend the study to excited states so as to determine the Lamb shift contribution to various spectral transitions. The proposed research will involve undergraduates in all sections of the work except one. These students will be exposed to ideas from the four areas of chemistry, physics, computer science, and mathematics. The skills these students pick up, such as practical computer programming, numerical analysis, optimization theory, and the general mechanics of attacking and solving a research problem, provide an important asset for postgraduate studies.
