Quantum Theory Of Atomic Structure

All chemistry students need a basic understanding of quantum theory and its applications in atomic and molecular structure and spectroscopy. This book provides a gentle introduction to the subject with the required background in physics and mathematics kept to a minimum. It develops the basic concepts needed as background. The emphasis throughout is on the physical concepts and their application in chemistry, especially to atoms and to the periodic table of elements

Niels Bohr and the Quantum Atom gives a comprehensive account of the birth, development, and decline of Bohr's atomic theory. It presents the theory in a broad context which includes not only its technical aspects, but also its reception, dissemination, and applications in both physics and chemistry.

A basic understanding of the quantum theory is essential in many areas of chemistry, especially in connection with spectroscopy and with theories of atomic and molecular structure. This introduction to the theory, and its application to elementary atomic structure, puts the essential ideas in their historical context. With the crucial and difficult concepts of wave-particle duality, modern illustrations are used to show that they have current applications in chemistry. Recognising that many chemistry students do not have a strong background in physics, most chapters start with some essential physics, concerning waves, mechanics, and electrostatics. The maths is kept to a minimum, consistent with a proper understanding of what is necessary. Each chapter ends with some simple problems.

This book provides a hands-on experience with atomic structure calculations. Material covered includes angular momentum methods, the central field Schrödinger and Dirac equations, Hartree-Fock and Dirac-Hartree-Fock equations, multiplet structure, hyperfine structure, the isotope shift, dipole and multipole transitions, basic many-body perturbation theory, configuration interaction, and correlation corrections to matrix elements. The book also contains numerical methods for solving the Schrödinger and Dirac eigenvalue problems and the (Dirac)-Hartree-Fock equations.

This book is intended for physicists and chemists who need to understand the theory of atomic and molecular structure and processes, and who wish to apply the theory to practical problems. As far as practicable, the book provides a self-contained account of the theory of relativistic atomic and molecular structure, based on the accepted formalism of bound-state Quantum Electrodynamics. The author was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1992.

Original published in 1926, this book presents a detailed account of quantum theory from its beginnings onwards. The text opens with a historical account of the quantum theory from its inception by Planck, and is followed by a full treatment of the dynamical theory evolved by Bohr and his school during the following ten years to explain the phenomena of line spectra. Some chapters are devoted to a general description of optical and X-ray spectra and their significance in the problem of the atomic structure of the elements. It closes with an account of work on the reaction of the atom to radiation fields. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in quantum theory and the history of science.