Molecular Symmetry And Spectroscopy

This book is based on a one-semester course for advanced undergraduates specializing in physical chemistry. I am aware that the mathematical training of most science majors is more heavily weighted towards analysis – typ- ally calculus and differential equations – than towards algebra. But it remains my conviction that the basic ideas and applications of group theory are not only vital, but not dif?cult to learn, even though a formal mathematical setting with emphasis on rigor and completeness is not the place where most chemists would feel most comfortable in learning them.

This Handbook comprises a comprehensive reference source that unifies the entire fields of atomic, molecular, and optical (AMO) physics, assembling the principal ideas, techniques and results of the field from atomic spectroscopy to applications in comets. It is both a source of information and an inspiration for graduate students and other researchers new to the field.