On spin wavefunctions and young orthogonal matrices

Electron spin wavefunctions are expressed in the Young orthogonal representation. The normalization factor is calculated. An explicit expression for the first column elements of the Young orthogonal matrices is obtained by a comparison to the branching diagram wavefunctions. These matrix elements are used in a multideterminant representation of the total wavefunction. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Spin wavefunctions of a many‐electron system are expressed in terms of basis functions of the Young orthogonal representation of the symmetric group with the normalization factor. An explicit expression for the first column elements of the Young orthogonal matrices is obtained by a comparison to the branching diagram wavefunctions. The presented form of spin wavefunctions leads to compact expressions for total wavefunctions as sums of Slater determinants.