We investigate the accuracy of trial wave functions for quantum Monte Carlo based on Pfaffian functional form with singlet and triplet pairing. Using a set of first row atoms and molecules we find that these wave functions provide very consistent and systematic behavior in recovering the correlation energies on the level of 95%. In order to get beyond this limit we explore the possibilities of multi-Pfaffian pairing wave functions. We show that a small number of Pfaffians recovers another large fraction of the missing correlation energy comparable to the larger-scale configuration interaction wave functions. We also find that Pfaffians lead to substantial improvements in fermion nodes when compared to Hartree-Fock wave functions.
We comprehensively show the topological structure--order of zeros felt by an electron at the positions of other electrons --for the enigmatic filling factor 5/2 at the "Pfaffian-shift" in a spherical geometry. A set of linearly independent antisymmetric functions that are constructed from the possible graphs preserving this topological structure provides complete basis for determining an accurate ground state wave function for any interaction, in particular the Coulomb interaction. One of the graphs describes
Z2 para-fermion equivalently the Pfaffian wave function, but some of the other graphs also contribute to form the exact ground state for the Coulomb interaction. We further show that our wave function for the Coulomb interaction supports clustering up to half of the composite bosons, signifying a strong-coupling regime.