Probability theory, analogy from

Also in response theory the summation over excited states is effectively replaced by solving a system of linear equations. Spin-orbit matrix elements are obtained from linear response functions, whereas quadratic response functions can most elegantly be utilized to compute spin-forbidden radiative transition probabilities. We refrain from going into details here, because an excellent review on this subject has been published by Agren et al.118 While these authors focus on response theory and its application in the framework of Cl and multiconfiguration self-consistent field (MCSCF) procedures, an analogous scheme using coupled-cluster electronic structure methods was presented lately by Christiansen et al.124... 

From these basic properties of possibility measures, the full calculus of possibility theory, analogous to the calculus of probability theory, has been developed. Its primary role is to deal with incomplete information expressed in terms of fuzzy propositions. Due to limited space, it is not possible to cover here details of this calculus. 

J. Bjerrum (1926) first developed the theory of ion association. He introduced the concept of a certain critical distance between the cation and the anion at which the electrostatic attractive force is balanced by the mean force corresponding to thermal motion. The energy of the ion is at a minimum at this distance. The method of calculation is analogous to that of Debye and Hiickel in the theory of activity coefficients (see Section 1.3.1). The probability Pt dr has to be found for the ith ion species to be present in a volume element in the shape of a spherical shell with thickness dr at a sufficiently small distance r from the central ion (index k). 

A rational deduction of elemental abundance from solar and stellar spectra had to be based on quantum theory, and the necessary foundation was laid with the Indian physicist Meghnad Saha s theory of 1920. Saha, who as part of his postdoctoral work had stayed with Nernst in Berlin, combined Bohr s quantum theory of atoms with statistical thermodynamics and chemical equilibrium theory. Making an analogy between the thermal dissociation of molecules and the ionization of atoms, he carried the van t Hoff-Nernst theory of reaction-isochores over from the laboratory to the stars. Although his work clearly belonged to astrophysics, and not chemistry, it relied heavily on theoretical methods introduced by and associated with physical chemistry. This influence from physical chemistry, and probably from his stay with Nernst, is clear from his 1920 paper where he described ionization as a sort of chemical reaction, in which we have to substitute ionization for chemical decomposition. [81] The influence was even more evident in a second paper of 1922 where he extended his analysis. [82]... 

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