Complex atoms, angular momenta

Each atom of a molecule that rotates about an axis through its centre of mass, describes a circular orbit. The total rotational energy must therefore be a function of the molecular moment of inertia about the rotation axis and the angular momentum. The energy calculation for a complex molecule is of the same type as the calculation for a single particle moving at constant (zero) potential on a ring. 

In ab initio theory, ECPs are considerably more complex. They properly represent not only Coulomb repulsion effects, but also adherence to the Pauli principle (i.e., outlying atomic orbitals must be orthogonal to core orbitals having the same angular momentum). This being said, we will not dwell on the technical aspects of their construction. Interested readers are referred to the bibliography at the end of the chapter. 

As was already mentioned, in theoretical atomic spectroscopy, while considering complex electronic configurations, one has to cope with many sums over quantum numbers of the angular momentum type and their projections (3nj- and ym-coefficients). There are collections of algebraic formulas for particular cases of such sums [9, 11, 88]. However, the most general way to solve problems of this kind is the exploitation of one or another versions of graphical methods [9,11]. They are widely utilized not only in atomic spectroscopy, but also in many other domains of physics (nuclei, elementary particles, etc.) [13],... 

Part 2 is devoted to the foundations of the mathematical apparatus of the angular momentum and graphical methods, which, as it has turned out, are very efficient in the theory of complex atoms. Part 3 considers the non-relativistic and relativistic cases of complex electronic configurations (one and several open shells of equivalent electrons, coefficients of fractional parentage and optimization of coupling schemes). Part 4 deals with the second-quantization in a coupled tensorial form, quasispin and isospin techniques in atomic spectroscopy, leading to new very efficient versions of the Racah algebra. 

The familiar set of the three t2g orbitals in an octahedral complex constitutes a three-dimensional shell. Classical ligand field theory has drawn attention to the fact that the matrix representation of the angular momentum operator t in a p-orbital basis is equal to the matrix of — if in the basis of the three d-orbitals with t2g symmetry [2,3]. This correspondence implies that, under a d-only assumption, l2 g electrons can be treated as pseudo-p electrons, yielding an interesting isomorphism between (t2g)" states and atomic (p)" multiplets. We will discuss this relationship later on in more detail. 

An unbiased simulation may use a truncated basis set that represents the lowest complex surface harmonics of the atomic valence shell on a Born-Oppenheimer framework with the correct relative atomic masses. For small molecules, of less than about fifteen atoms, the nuclear framework could perhaps even be generated computationally without assumption. The required criterion is the optimal quenching of angular momentum vectors. The derivation of molecular structure by the angular-momentum criterion will be demonstrated qualitatively for some small molecules. 

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