Group Theory with Applications in Chemical Physics

This book provides a rigorous account on the fundamentals and applications of Group Theory to chemical physics.

Patrick Jacobs (Author)

9780521642507, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 18 October 2005

506 pages, 140 b/w illus. 188 tables 134 exercises
25.4 x 18 x 3 cm, 1.2 kg

“The mathematical development is clear and concise, and examples interspersed throughout clearly illustrate the different principles considered. For practicing chemists or physicists with previous exposure to group theory, this book is indispensable. As a primary resource for special-topics graduate courses, this book would be outstanding.”
Choice

Group Theory is an indispensable mathematical tool in many branches of chemistry and physics. This book provides a self-contained and rigorous account on the fundamentals and applications of the subject to chemical physics, assuming no prior knowledge of group theory. The first half of the book focuses on elementary topics, such as molecular and crystal symmetry, whilst the latter half is more advanced in nature. Discussions on more complex material such as space groups, projective representations, magnetic crystals and spinor bases, often omitted from introductory texts, are expertly dealt with. With the inclusion of numerous exercises and worked examples, this book will appeal to advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students studying physical sciences and is an ideal text for use on a two-semester course.

1. The elementary properties of groups
2. Symmetry operators and point groups
3. Matrix representations
4. Group representations
5. Bases of representations
6. Molecular orbitals
7. Crystal field theory
8. Double groups
9. Molecular vibrations
10. Transitions between electronic states
11. The rotation group
12. Projective representations
13. Time-reversal symmetry
14. The crystallographic magnetic point groups
15. Macroscopic properties of crystals
16. Space groups
17. Electronic energy states in crystals
18. The vibration of atoms in crystals
Appendices.

Subject Areas: Crystallography [PNT], Solid state chemistry [PNRS], Atomic & molecular physics [PHM], Groups & group theory [PBG]