Variational study of 3He droplets

We report variational calculations of energies of He-3(N) droplets (20 less than or equal to N less than or equal to 40), using Aziz atom-atom interactions. The trial wave function has a simple structure, combining two- and three-body correlation functions coming from a translationally invariant configuration-interaction description, superimposed to a Jastrow-type correlated wave function with backflow. We find that the smallest bound drop has N = 35 atoms, and that for each N the minimum energy states have the highest spin values.