  The variational and diffusion quantum Monte Carlo methods are used to
calculate the correlation energy of the paramagnetic three-dimensional
homogeneous electron gas at intermediate to high density. Ground state energies
in finite cells are determined using Slater-Jastrow-backflow trial wave
functions, and finite-size errors are removed using twist-averaged boundary
conditions and extrapolation of the energy per particle to the thermodynamic
limit of infinite system size. Our correlation energies in the thermodynamic
limit are lower (i.e., more negative, and therefore more accurate according to
the variational principle) than previous results, and can be used for the
parameterization of density functionals to be applied to high-density systems.
