Atomic physics is a pioneering discipline at the forefront of theoretical and experimental physics. It has played a major role in advancing our understanding of chaotic systems. The 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for progress in cooling atoms to extremely low temperatures. This new edition of Theoretical Atomic Physics takes into account recent developments and includes sections on semiclassical periodic orbit theory, scaling properties for atoms in external fields, threshold behaviour of ionization cross sections, classical and quantum dynamics of two-electron atoms, and Bose-Einstein condensation of atomic gases. Moreover, for students there are 48 problems with complete solutions which makes this course the most thorough introduction to the field available.

Klappentext

This new edition presents the recent developments in atomic physics. Beginning with a review of quantum mechanics, the book covers important areas of theoretical atomic physics, including semiclassical theory, periodic orbit theory, scaling properties for atoms in external fields, threshold behavior of ionization cross sections, and classical quantum dynamics of two-electron atoms.

Inhalt

1 Review of Quantum Mechanics.- 2 Atoms and Ions.- 3 Atomic Spectra.- 4 Simple Reactions.- 5 Special Topics.- Appendices: Special Mathematical Functions.- A.1 Legendre Polynomials, Spherical Harmonics.- A.2 Laguerre Polynomials.- A.3 Bessel Functions.- A.4 Whittaker Functions, Coulomb Functions.- References.- Solutions to the Problems.- References.