Variational scattering theory using a functional of fractional form. II. An L2 approach

An L2 approach to our variational method which is based on a functional of fractional form is proposed. As in the R-matrix theory, configuration space is divided into two parts. However, unlike the R-matrix theory, the associated wave function is always smooth. The resulting K matrix is anomaly-free and symmetric (and hence the S matrix is unitary). Application of this method to an exactly soluble two-channel model problem shows that our new approach gives much better results than the other standard variational principles.