I. Lindgren - Böcker

The Eighth International Conference on Atomic Physics was held at Ch~lmers University of Technology, Goteborg, Sweden on August 2-6, 1982. Following the tradition established by earlier conferences in the series, it was attended by 280 participants from 24 countries. A total of 28 invited talks were delivered at the conference. These talks, which are presented in this volume, covered a wide range of topics in atomic physics in a broad sense. They extend from very basic problems (e.g., the interpretation of quantum mechanics in light of Bell's theorem and the feasibility of relativistic many-body calculations) to applied problems (e.g., laser detection of trace elements and spectroscopy of chemisorbed molecules). Professor M.Ya. Amusia was unable to attend the conference but his invited paper is included here. Professor V.S. Letokhov presented a talk entitled "Prospects of Laser Detection of Very Rare Isotopes, but was unable to provide a manuscript. At the conference, 175 post­ ers were presented. Abstracts have been published in a separate volume. It is very much appreciated that all the 1981 Nobel laureates, Nicolaas Bloembergen, Arthur Schawlow and Kai Siegbahn, were able to attend and deliver their invited talks. Professor Schawlow summed up the conference and this too is presented here. The con­ ference also benefited considerably from the presence of Professor 1.1. Rabi, who gave a much appreciated talk at the conference dinner. As this talk was given without a manuscript, it could unfortunately not be included here.

This book has developed through a series of lectures on atomic theory given these last eight years at Chalmers University of Technology and several oth­ er research centers. These courses were intended to make the basic elements of atomic theory available to experimentalists working with the hyperfine structure and the optical properties of atoms and to provide some insight into recent developments in the theory. The original intention of this book has gradually extended to include a wide range of topics. We have tried to provide a complete description of atomic theory, bridging the gap between introductory books on quantum mechanics - such as the book by Merzbacher, for instance - and present­ day research in the field. Our presentation is limited to static atomic prop­ erties, such as the effective electron-electron interaction, but the formalism can be extended without major difficulties to include dynamic properties, such as transition probabilities and dynamic polarizabilities.