The object of this paper is the correlation of the terms of the spectrum of ionised oxygen, deduced by A. Fowler from the regularities in the observed spectrum, with the terms to be expected on the theory of complex spectra indicated by Heisenberg, and worked out in some detail by Hund. It will appear that the agreement between observation and theory is most satisfactory. A large proportion of the observed terms can be correlated with the theoretical terms almost with certainty. All the observed terms can be correlated with theoretical terms in a way which, while less certain, shows regularities which suggest that the correlation is significant. Almost all the theoretical terms which would give strong lines in the region searched by A. Fowler are represented among the terms already deduced by him. As it is possible to test the theory of Heisenberg and Hund here with far more certainty and completeness than is possible in the Fe-group, where among the theoretical terms there are usually several alternatives with which an observed term might equally well be identified, we have ventured to set out the argument in some detail. No test so complete has been possible for an atom homologous with a member of the fifth column of the periodic table (N, P, As, Sb, Bi) previous to the publication of A. Fowler’s results.
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Fowler et al. (1926) studied this question.