Relativistic Theory Of Atoms And Molecules Iii

Relativistic effects are of major importance for understanding the properties of heavier atoms and molecules. Volumes I-III of Relativistic Theory of Atoms and Molecules constitute the only available bibliography on related calculations. In Volume III, 3792 new references covering 1993-1999 are added to the database. The material is characterized by an analysis of the respective papers. The volume gives the user a comprehensive bibliography on relativistic atomic and molecular calculations, including studies on the Dirac equation and related solid-state work.

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.

Relativistic effects are of major importance for understan- ding the properties of heavier atoms and molecules. This book is still the only comprehensive bibliography on related calculations. The material is organized by subject into ta- bles containing a concise characterization. Together with Volume I (Lecture Notes in Chemistry Vol. 41, ISBN 3-540-17167-3) the literature until 1992 is now covered and 6577 references, with titles, are given in the two books. The book will provide aconvenient reference for theoretical chemists and atomic and molecular physicists interested in the properties of heavier elements. Contents: Introduction - One-particle problems - Quantum electrodynamical effects - Multielectron atoms: methods - Multielectron atoms: results - Symmetry - Molecular calcula- tions - Solid-state theory - Relativistic effects and heavy- element chemistry - Corrections to Volume I - Some comments on notations and terminology - List of acronyms and symbols - Bibliography.

Recent years have seen a growing interest in the effects of relativity in atoms, molecules and solids. On the one hand, this can be seen as result of the growing awareness of the importance of relativity in describing the properties of heavy atoms and systems containing them. This has been fueled by the inadequacy of physical models which either neglect relativity or which treat it as a small perturbation. On the other hand, it is dependent upon the technological developments which have resulted in computers powerful enough to make calculations on heavy atoms and on systems containing heavy atoms meaningful. Vector processing and, more recently, parallel processing techniques are playing an increasingly vital role in rendering the algorithms which arise in relativistic studies tractable. This has been exemplified in atomic structure theory, where the dominant role of the central nuclear charge simplifies the problem enough to permit some prediction to be made with high precision, especially for the highly ionized atoms of importance in plasma physics and in laser confinement studies. Today's sophisticated physical models of the atom derived from quantum electrodynamics would be intractable without recourse to modern computational machinery. Relativistic atomic structure calculations have a history dating from the early attempts of Swirles in the mid 1930's but continue to provide one of the primary test beds of modern theoretical physics.

Written by two researchers in the field, this book is a reference to explain the principles and fundamentals in a self-contained, complete and consistent way. Much attention is paid to the didactical value, with the chapters interconnected and based on each other. From the contents: * Fundamentals * Relativistic Theory of a Free Electron: Diracï¿1⁄2s Equation * Dirac Theory of a Single Electron in a Central Potential * Many-Electron Theory I: Quantum Electrodynamics * Many-Electron Theory II: Dirac-Hartree-Fock Theory * Elimination of the Small Component * Unitary Transformation Schemes * Relativistic Density Functional Theory * Physical Observables and Molecular Properties * Interpretive Approach to Relativistic Quantum Chemistry From beginning to end, the authors deduce all the concepts and rules, such that readers are able to understand the fundamentals and principles behind the theory. Essential reading for theoretical chemists and physicists.

The NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI) on "Relativistic Effects in Atoms, Molecules and Solids" cosponsored by Simon Fraser University (SFU) and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) was held at the University of British Columbia (UBC) , Van couver, Canada from August 10th until August 21st, 1981. A total of 77 lecturers and students with diverse backgrounds in Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and various interdisciplinary subjects attended the ASI. In the proposal submitted to NATO for financial support for this ASI, it was suggested that recent impressive experimental developments coupled with the availability of sophisticated computer technology for detailed investigation of the relativistic structure of atoms, molecules and solids would provide an excellent testing ground for the validity and accuracy of the theoretical treatment of the rela tivistic many-electron systems involving medium and heavy atoms. Such systems are also of interest to the current energy crisis because of their usage for photovoltaic devices, nuclear fuels (UF6), fusion lasers (Xe*2)' catalysts for solar energy conversion, etc.

Thisvolume isdevotedtomethodsfor thestudyoftheeffectsofrelativity on theelectronicstructure ofatomsand molecules. The accurate descrip tionofrelativisticeffectsinheavyatomshaslongbeenrecognizedasoneof the central problems ofatomic physics. Contemporary relativistic atomic structure calculations can be performed almost routinely. Recent years have seen agrowinginterestin thestudyoftheeffects ofrelativityon the structureofmolecules. Even for molecularsystemscontainingatoms from thesecondrowoftheperiodictable theenergyassociatedwith relativistic effects is often larger than that arising from electron correlation. For moleculescontainingheavieratoms relativistic effects become increasingly important, andforsystemscontainingveryheavyatomsrelativityisknown todominatemanychemicalproperties. In this volum, one of the pioneers of relativistic atomic structure calculations, Ian P. Grant, providesadetailedsurveyofthecomputational techniquesemployedincontemporarystudiesoftheeffectsofrelativityon atomicstructure. Thisisanareaofresearchinwhichcalculationscanoften lead to a particularly impressive degreeofagreement between theoryand experiment. Furthermore, theseatomicstudies haveprovided manyofthe foundations of a fully relativistic quantum chemistry. However, the spherical symmetry ofatoms allows significantsimplificationsto bemade in their quantum mechanical treatment, simplifications which are not possibleinstudiesofmolecules. Inparticular, as is wellknown from non relativistictheoriesofmolecularelectronicstructure, itisalmostobligatory to invoke the algebraic approximation in molecular work and use finite basis set expansions. The problem of describing relativistic effects in molecules is addressed in Chapter2 by Stephen Wilson. This chapter is devotedtoab initiorelativisticmolecularstructurecalculationsinwhichall electrons are explicitly considered. The problem of induding relativistic effects in molecular studies is also addressed in Chapters3 and 4. In Chapter 3, Odd Gropen describes the use of relativistic effective core ix x Preface potentials in calculations on molecular systems involving heavy atoms. This approach can lead to more tractable algorithms than the methods described in Chapter2 and thus significantly extends the range of applications. The use of semiempirical methods has yielded a wealth of informationabouttheinfluenceofrelativityonthechemistryoftheheavier elements. Thisimportantarea is reviewed inChapter4 by Pekka Pyykk6. Finally, inChapter5, Harry M."