Customer Reviews

Angular Momentum

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This is a very useful book for those engaged in research in atomic, molecular and optical physics. It is one of three books on angular momentum theory that came out at around the same time (the others are by Rose and Edmonds), each has a different approach to the subject, and serious students usually have a copy of all three; this is generally considered to be the most readable.

This volume is somewhat less theory biased than the book of Edmonds, and has two chapters on applications of the theory. So while chapters I- IV give the basic theory of angular momentum in quantum mechanics, chapter V covers matrix elements of tensor operators, and Chapter VI considers applications to physical systems. The final chapter gives an introduction to graphical methods in angular momentum theory.

Six appendices give properties of 3-J, 6-J, 9-J symbols, spherical harmonics, rotation matrix elements, and finally tensors and their matrix elements.

This is an excellent book. It has stood the test of time extremely well, and has been often reprinted. If you use angular momentum theory in your work, you should own this book.

If you have reason to perform calculations involving angular momentum - particularly in quantum mechanics, nuclear physics, particle physics, etc. then this book is for you. It provides a concise but complete exposition of the theory of spherical tensors and angular momentum decomposition. The notation is somewhat dated but still quite understandable. Recommended.