Jean-Patrick Connerade - Böcker

This book is an introduction to the physics of highly excited, easily perturbed or interacting atoms. The book begins with a brief introduction to the traditional view of electron shells and their properties, and then goes on to discuss Rydberg states, quantum defect theory, atomic f-values, centrifugal barrier effects, autoionisation, inner shell and double excitation spectra, K-matrix theory, atoms in high laser fields, statistical methods, quantum chaos, and atomic effects in solids. The emphasis is throughout on radial properties, orbital collapse, many body effects, the breakdown of the independent particle approach, the emergence of chaos, and the behaviour of atoms inside clusters and solids. A very full account of autoionisation includes not only the standard treatment for isolated resonances, but also several alternative approaches. The book discusses many experimental examples and has many diagrams and a comprehensive reference list.

"I read The Planetary Atom with great interest. Of course, we are all aware of the major contributions made by legendary researchers such as Ernest Rutherford, who first set up the model known as 'the planetary atom'. But I knew nothing of the much more discrete figure of George Adolphus Schott. I was impressed, on reading this book, to discover the significance and conceptual depth of his work."Claude Cohen-TannoudjiNobel Laureate in PhysicsCollège de France, Paris "Although Science is not fiction, the lives and works of scientists provide real substance for a novel like The Planetary Atom, which tells a story of general public interest."Jean-Marie LehnNobel Laureate in ChemistryUniversité Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg Foreword by Roald Hoffmann, Nobel Laureate in ChemistryThis largely imaginary biography recreates the life and times of George Adolphus Schott, a contemporary of Rutherford and Bohr, who criticized the Planetary Atom which was proposed to account for celebrated observations by Rutherford. Schott proved the Planetary Atom to be incompatible with fundamental properties of physics. Unfortunately, his work was cast aside because of Bohr's success in accounting for the structure of the atom. Later, it was found that Schott had, in fact, predicted important effects. Nonetheless, his contribution was forgotten and his discovery of Synchrotron Radiation was attributed to another.In The Planetary Atom, Schott's interactions with eminent scientists of the time are reconstructed. The novel rehabilitates an unjustly forgotten British researcher and restores him to his rightful place as one of the great scientists of his time.Related Link(s)

"I read The Planetary Atom with great interest. Of course, we are all aware of the major contributions made by legendary researchers such as Ernest Rutherford, who first set up the model known as 'the planetary atom'. But I knew nothing of the much more discrete figure of George Adolphus Schott. I was impressed, on reading this book, to discover the significance and conceptual depth of his work."Claude Cohen-TannoudjiNobel Laureate in PhysicsCollège de France, Paris "Although Science is not fiction, the lives and works of scientists provide real substance for a novel like The Planetary Atom, which tells a story of general public interest."Jean-Marie LehnNobel Laureate in ChemistryUniversité Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg Foreword by Roald Hoffmann, Nobel Laureate in ChemistryThis largely imaginary biography recreates the life and times of George Adolphus Schott, a contemporary of Rutherford and Bohr, who criticized the Planetary Atom which was proposed to account for celebrated observations by Rutherford. Schott proved the Planetary Atom to be incompatible with fundamental properties of physics. Unfortunately, his work was cast aside because of Bohr's success in accounting for the structure of the atom. Later, it was found that Schott had, in fact, predicted important effects. Nonetheless, his contribution was forgotten and his discovery of Synchrotron Radiation was attributed to another.In The Planetary Atom, Schott's interactions with eminent scientists of the time are reconstructed. The novel rehabilitates an unjustly forgotten British researcher and restores him to his rightful place as one of the great scientists of his time.Related Link(s)

This book presents a “snapshot” of the most recent and significant advances in the field of cluster physics. It is a comprehensive review based on contributions by the participants of the 2nd International Symposium on Atomic Cluster Collisions (ISACC 2007) held in July 19-23, 2007 at GSI, Darmstadt, Germany. The purpose of the Symposium is to promote the growth and exhange of scientific information on the structure and properties of nuclear, atomic, molecular, biological and complex cluster systems studied by means of photonic, electronic, heavy particle and atomic collisions. Particular attention is devoted to dynamic phenomena, many-body effects taking place in cluster systems of a different nature — these include problems of fusion and fission, fragmentation, collective electron excitations, phase transitions, etc. Both the experimental and theoretical aspects of cluster physics, uniquely placed between nuclear physics on the one hand and atomic, molecular and solid state physics on the other, are discussed.

This comprehensive volume surveys the general aspects of atomic cluster science and outlines some of its important new challenges. It begins by detailing the recent advances in the understanding of structure and the essential properties of selected atomic cluster systems, fullerenes and confined atoms. Recent advances in the field of photo processes involving atomic clusters and fullerenes are discussed, and an entire chapter is devoted to the problem of fission dynamics of atomic clusters, presenting parallels with similar processes in nuclear physics.The book goes on to describe the problems of electron-cluster collisions with special emphasis on polarization and collective excitation effects. The important area of the behavior of atomic clusters in laser fields is considered; the ionization, collective dynamics of electrons in the system in the presence of the laser field, and the laser induced dynamics of molecules and clusters are thoroughly described.Finally, a broad spectrum of problems in the area of ionic collisions with fullerenes and metal clusters is covered — from both experimental and theoretical points of view — and the results of the most recent measurements are reported. The concluding chapter takes a careful look at the interaction of an atomic cluster with a surface. The problems of cluster deposition and formation at a surface as well as collision processes involving clusters deposited at a surface are considered through a number of illustrative examples.

This proceedings volume describes many-body effects in highly correlated systems with special emphasis on metal clusters and transition from the free atom to the solid state limit and on strong laser field effects. The interdisciplinary nature of the subject should be stressed: clusters are a novel area of research, involving atomic, molecular, solid state and nuclear physics.