  We devise a non-Hermitian Rayleigh-Schroedinger perturbation theory for the
single- and the multireference case to tackle both the many-body problem and
the decay problem encountered, for example, in the study of electronic
resonances in molecules. A complex absorbing potential (CAP) is employed to
facilitate a treatment of resonance states that is similar to the
well-established bound-state techniques. For the perturbative approach, the
full CAP-Schroedinger Hamiltonian, in suitable representation, is partitioned
according to the Epstein-Nesbet scheme. The equations we derive in the
framework of the single-reference perturbation theory turn out to be identical
to those obtained by a time-dependent treatment in Wigner-Weisskopf theory. The
multireference perturbation theory is studied for a model problem and is shown
to be an efficient and accurate method. Algorithmic aspects of the integration
of the perturbation theories into existing ab initio programs are discussed,
and the simplicity of their implementation is elucidated.
