Group Theory with Applications in Chemical Physics

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

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.

This book provides a self-contained and rigorous account on the fundamentals and applications of Group Theory and Symmetry to chemical physics. With numerous worked examples, this book will appeal as an introductory guide to advanced undergraduates or beginning graduate students studying physical sciences.

Professor Jacobs is Emeritus Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Western Ontario. He has taught extensively in the area of physical chemistry, in particular group theory and has lectured on the subject across North America, Europe and the former USSR. He has authored over 315 publications, mainly in the fields of solid state chemistry and physics and his work has been awarded with the Solid State Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry.