Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T13:27:56.133Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The many electron problem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2008

J. A. De Wet
Affiliation:
Witmos, Eastern Province, South Africa

Extract

1. Introduction. In a paper on the many nucleon problem (l), which we shall henceforth call I, the determination of the irreducible representations of the four-dimensional unitary group were found from a decomposition of its infinitesimal ring U04 The method of decomposition made use of the four primitive four-component idempotents (projection operators) of the Dirac ring each of which, as was recognized long ago by Eddington (2), can be identified with a possible charge-spin state of a Dirac particle. Some experimental justification for the representations was also provided, and it is the purpose of this paper to apply the same tools to the many electron problem. In particular, matrices will be derived for the spin multiplets of a system of r electrons, and it will be shown how the model can account for the atomic shell structure and orbital angular momentum.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge Philosophical Society 1972

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

(1)De Wet, J. A. To appear in this Journal.Google Scholar
(2)Eddington, A. S.Fundamental theory (Cambridge, 1948).Google Scholar
(3)Boerneb, H.Representations of groups (North-Holland, 1963).Google Scholar
(4)Hamermesh, M.Group theory (Addison Wesley, 1962).Google Scholar
(5)Elliot, J. P.Proc. Roy. Soc. (London) Ser. A 245 (1950), 139.Google Scholar
(6)Babgmann, V. and Wigner, E. P.Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 34 (1946), 211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(7)Wigner, E. P.Group theory and its applications (Academic Press, 1959).Google Scholar
(8)Condon, E. U. and Shortley, G. H.The theory of atomic spectra (Cambridge, 1935).Google Scholar