Bransden And Joachain Atomic Physics Pdf

[Melanie Wendelberger]

Thestudy of atomic and molecular physics is a key component of undergraduate courses in physics, because of its fundamental importance to the understanding of many aspects of modern physics. The aim of this new edition is to provide a unified account of the subject within an undergraduate framework, taking the opportunity to make improvements based on the teaching experience of users of the first edition, and cover important new developments in the subject.Key features of this new edition:

Atomic physics is the branch of physics that studies the structure and behavior of atoms, which are the basic units of matter. It explores the properties of particles within atoms, such as protons, neutrons, and electrons, as well as the interactions between these particles.

Atomic physics is crucial in understanding the fundamental principles of matter and energy. It has led to advancements in numerous fields such as quantum mechanics, nuclear energy, and materials science. It also plays a significant role in the development of technologies such as lasers, transistors, and nuclear weapons.

An atomic physics book typically covers topics such as atomic structure, quantum mechanics, nuclear physics, particle physics, and applications of atomic physics in various fields. It may also include discussions on experimental techniques and current research in the field.

Some popular books on atomic physics include "Introduction to Atomic Physics" by Christopher Foot, "Atomic Physics: An Exploration Through Problems and Solutions" by Dmitry Budker and Derek F. Kimball, and "Atomic Physics" by Max Born. It is also helpful to read books on related topics such as quantum mechanics and nuclear physics.

It is recommended to have a basic understanding of physics and mathematics before delving into atomic physics. Familiarity with concepts such as classical mechanics, electromagnetism, and calculus will help in understanding the principles of atomic physics. It is also helpful to have a strong foundation in quantum mechanics and nuclear physics.

Born in Brussels on 9 May 1937, Charles J. Joachain obtained his Ph.D. in Physics in 1963 at the Universit Libre de Bruxelles (Free University of Brussels). From 1964 to 1965 he was a Postdoctoral Fellow of the Belgian American Educational Foundation at the University of California, Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and from 1965 to 1966 a Research Physicist at these institutions. At the Universit Libre de Bruxelles he was appointed charg de cours associ in 1965, charg de cours in 1968, professeur extraordinaire in 1971 and professeur ordinaire in 1978. He was chairman of the Department of Physics in 1980 and 1981. He was also appointed professor at the Universit Catholique de Louvain in 1984. In 2002, he became professeur ordinaire mrite (Emeritus Professor) at the Universit Libre de Bruxelles and professeur honoraire at the Universit Catholique de Louvain.

The research activities of Professor Joachain concern two areas of theoretical physics:1) Quantum collision theory: electron and positron collisions with atomic systems, atom-atom collisions, nuclear reactions, high-energy hadron collisions with nuclei.2) High-intensity laser-atom interactions: multiphoton ionization, harmonic generation, laser-assisted atomic collisions, attophysics, relativistic effects in laser-atom interactions.

He is also the author of hundred and forty-seven research articles and forty-five review articles in theoretical physics, devoted mainly to quantum collision theory with applications to atomic, nuclear and high-energy processes and to the theory of high-intensity laser-atom interactions.

This lecture will give an introduction into the basic physics of ultra-cold atoms and matter waves. Topics include: Atom-Light interaction, optical Bloch equations, quantum Monte Carlo methods, coupled 2-level systems and adiabatic dressed states, simple cavity QED, laser cooling and trapping, magnetic trapping, ion traps, slow light, precision spectroscopy and atomic clocks, ultra cold collisions, BEC

This course will be your ideal preparation to enter the broad field of atomic, molecular and optical physics. It is advised to take this course before starting a master's thesis in one of the many research groups working on these topics in Heidelberg.

We will put a lot of emphasis on modern topics, such that at the end of the course you will be able to understand current research publications, and judge for yourself which topics you will find most exciting.

Solution of the non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) radiative transfer problem in stellar atmospheres requires detailed and complete knowledge of the radiative and collisional processes that affect the statistical equilibrium of a given atomic species of interest. A difficulty regarding the collisional processes is to determine which, among the almost endless possibilities in a stellar atmosphere, are important. In an early study of the formation of the Na D lines in the solar spectrum, Plaskett (1955) considered the two obvious candidates for the case of the solar atmosphere: inelastic collisions with electrons and with hydrogen atoms in their ground state. The importance of electron collisions in many environments is well known, arising from the fact that electrons are always the most abundant charged particle and have a much higher thermal velocity than atoms, leading directly to a higher collision rate.

Recent theoretical and experimental studies have put us in a position to answer this question. In this paper we will examine the question from two points of view. First, is there any reasonable expectation that the Drawin formula can provide reasonable results given our present understanding of the physics involved? This is discussed in Sect. 2. Second, how do the results from the Drawin formula compare with those from quantum mechanical calculations? This comparison is made in Sect. 3. Finally, the main conclusions are summarised.

In this section we discuss the physics behind the classical Drawin formula. We then compare with quantum theory and the physics of inelastic H atom collisions as revealed by experiment and detailed quantum scattering calculations based on quantum-chemistry descriptions of the relevant quasi-molecules.

The main physical assumption in the generalisation of the Thomson theory to ionization in collisions between like atoms, is that for a given collision energy above threshold, the efficiency of the energy transfer in an atom-atom collision is the same as in the electron-atom collision. This amounts to neglect of the nucleus of the perturbing atom, and thus the model in essence is the classical interaction of the impact atom electron with the stationary free classical atomic electron, allowing for the increased mass of the perturber. Drawin introduces an additional mass factor (mA/mH) without justification, which has been discussed by Fleischmann & Dehmel (1972) and Lambert (1993). While Drawin compared with experiments for ionization in collisions between light atoms and between molecules and found agreement within a factor of two, Fleischmann & Dehmel made comparisons and found only order-of-magnitude agreement becoming worse for heavier atoms. In the case of collisions between atoms of similar mass, Fleischmann & Dehmel found only agreement within a factor of 100. Comparisons with more recent experimental data do not change this conclusion (Kunc & Soon 1991).

Classical descriptions of atomic processes are less well suited to excitation than to ionization, due to the generally smaller energy transfer and the difficulty in choosing a classical final energy state band. In Drawin (1969; see also Drawin & Emard 1973) the ionization formula is extended to the case of excitation by analogy with the ionization formula; that is, the ionization threshold energy is replaced by the excitation threshold energy, and the oscillator strength is inserted into the formula. This amounts to a choice of the final energy band to be all energy transfers greater than the excitation threshold, modified by the oscillator strength. The inclusion of the oscillator strength is almost certainly motivated by analogy with the Bethe approximation for inelastic collisions with electrons (see below). This approximation is valid only for optically allowed transitions and at high collision energies where the momentum transfer is small. The oscillator strength is introduced in some versions of the ionization formula (e.g. Drawin 1969) including the one adopted by Steenbock and Holweger, but not in others (Drawin 1968; Drawin & Emard 1973).

At low collision energies, quantum atomic collision theory uses a different approach, in particular, the standard adiabatic (Born-Oppenheimer) approach, which is based on the separation of the nuclear kinetic energy operator and the electronic fixed-nuclei Hamiltonian in the total Hamiltonian, finally leading to the molecular-state representation for electronic (fixed-nuclei) wave functions and nonadiabatic nuclear dynamics (e.g. Mott & Massey 1949; Bates 1962; Macas & Riera 1982; Nikitin & Umansky 1984). Total wave functions of the entire collisional system are expressed in terms of products of electronic molecular-state wave functions and nuclear wave functions, e.g., radial nuclear wave functions Fl(u)(R)/R multiplied by angular nuclear wave functions; R being nuclear coordinates. This full quantum treatment requires calculations of quantum-chemical data (molecular potentials and nonadiabatic couplings) and integration of coupled-channel scattering equations. The nuclear motion induces nonadiabatic transitions between molecular states. In the asymptotic region, where the internuclear distance is large enough, molecular orbitals are determined by corresponding atomic orbitals, but at short and intermediate distances, where nonadiabatic transitions mainly take place, molecular orbitals are usually represented by mixtures of quite different atomic orbitals, for example, covalent and ionic configurations.

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