Abstract
The correlation energies BE for the He-like ions are studied with the virtual-pair approximation UP and with the no-virtual-pair approximation MVP. In contrast to the nonrelativistic CEs, the CEs calculated with relativity fell sharply as the nuclear charge Z increased, although the CE calculated with the NVPA was considerably lower than with the VPA for the heavier atoms. It is shown that CE calculated with a Hylleraas-type function implicitly includes the effects of the excitations into negative-energy states, which corresponds to the VPA. The present results verify that the strong dependence on Z of the CE of He-like ions is an essential effect of the relativity.