Oxford University Press eBooks
Review of quantum mechanics
Alan Corney
Abstract
This chapter derives the quantum mechanical wave functions which describe the energy levels of simple atoms. Schrödinger's equation is introduced as well and the angular part of the equation is solved for spherically symmetric potentials. The orbital angular momentum operator is defined and the concept of intrinsic spin is introduced. The extension of these results to atoms with several electrons using the central-field approximation is introduced. Spectroscopic notation for Russell-Saunders coupling is discussed.