The Theory of Atomic Structure and Spectra

Robert D Cowan 1982 Berkeley: University of California Press xviii + 731 pp price £31.50 This excellent text provides a comprehensive introduction to the Slater–Condon theory of atomic structure, at a level suitable for postgraduate students. After a useful review of the scope and background of the subject, and rather brief accounts of angularmomentum theory and the oneelectron atom, the main chapters cover the structure of complex atoms, including Hartree–Fock solutions, the various coupling schemes, simple and complex configurations and configuration interaction, with a detailed exposition of such matters as fractional parentage and Racah algebra.