Atomic Physics

In General > s.a. {#democritus}; elements; history of physics [including Bohr model].
* Evidence: Analysis of chemical reactions; Brownian motion (A Einstein, typical size 10^–10 m).
@ Texts: Cagnac & Pebay-Peyroula 75 [IIb]; Lim 00 [problems, and nuclear]; Dahl 01 [III].
@ Manipulation of atoms: Eigler & Schweizer Nat(90)apr; Folman et al PRL(00)qp/99.
@ Imaging: Tsong PT(06)mar [history]; Zewail et al PNAS(06) + pw(06)dec [electron microscope movies].
@ Exotic atoms: news pw(04)oct [pionium]; DEAR Collaboration PRL(05) + pw(05)jun [kaonic H]; > s.a. elements [positronium].
@ Related topics: Fermi (23)ht/02 [interaction with charged particles]; Dirac IJTP(84) [future]; Cohen-Tannoudji 04 [and electromagnetic fields]; Alba et al a0806 [relativistic]; > s.a. matter [including plasma].
> Online resources: Internet Encyclopedia of Science pages.

Stark Effect
* Consequences: Makes bound states acquire a finite lifetime.
@ References: Land & Howitz FP(01)qp [covariant form]; Bini et al PRD(04)gq [gravitational, c-metric].

Zeeman Effect
* Idea: The splitting of atomic spectral lines by an external magnetic field B, due to the interaction of B with the atomic magnetic moment; If B = B k, then U = – · B = g m_J (e B/2m_e).
* Applications: Since it depends on the quantum number m_J of the energy levels, it removes a degeneracy and is useful for the identification of quantum numbers; Also used in astronomy to detect magnetic fields in stars.
* Consequences: It makes bound states acquire a finite lifetime.
* Normal vs anomalous: The "normal" one is a simpler line splitting at high magnetic fields; The transition to the more complicated, "anomalous" pattern (Paschen-Back effect) occurs at fields below 10 T or so.
@ References: Zeeman Nat(1897).

Special Topics > s.a. Dicke Model; interactions; gas; Parity; Saha Equation; X-Rays.
* Prout's law: Atomic weights are integer multiples of that of H (not really true).
* Efimov effect: A quantum phenomenon in which the atoms in a cloud attract each other when considered two at a time, but repel each other when considered three at a time; Could lead to an incompressible, undilutable liquid 10¹³ times thinner than water!
* Efimov effect, other version: A purely quantum phenomenon whereby particles, such as neutral atoms, which ordinarily do not interact strongly enough to form 2-way bound states can join together with a third one and form three-way bound states (mainly through the van der Waals effect, in which rearrangements of electrical charge in one atom form an electric dipole whose electric field can induce dipoles in, and thereby attract, neighboring atoms); First predicted around 1970 by Vitaly Efimov, then a PhD candidate, but originally considered "too strange to be true"; For decades, experimenters tried in vain to create these "Efimov trimers"; 1999, Chris Greene and collaborators predicted that gases of ultracold atoms might provide the right conditions; 2005, Team led by Rudi Grimm of the University of Innsbruck confirmed the Efimov state in an ultracold Cs gas cooled to 10 nK.
* High-Z atoms: Elements 107–112 created at GSI labs, Darmstadt, in collisions [@ news pn(96)feb]; 1999, 116 seen at LBL.
* Quantum degenerate states: For bosonic atoms, in bose-einstein condensation; for fermionic atoms, a quantum degenerate gas (like in neutron stars, white dwarves, superfluidity, superconductivity) was obtained in 1999 with ⁴⁰K atoms [@ news pn(99)sep].
* Atomic electric dipole moments: Strongest limits are 2001 University of Washington measurements with Hg atoms; Equivalent charges would be at most 2 10^–30 m apart [@ Romalis et al PRL(01)].
@ Bound states: Lindgren et al PRP(04) [QED methods].
@ Efimov effect: Esry et al PRL(99); Bulgac PRL(02); Kraemer et al Nat(06)mar; news pw(06)mar; Day PT(06)apr; news pn(07)may; Macek PS(07); Rau a0706 [pedagogical].
@ Ionization: Ovchinnikov et al PRP(04) [collisions]; Fröhlich & Merkli MPAG(04)mp, et al JSP(04)mp [thermal].
@ Quantum effects: Adams CP(94) [atom optics]; Aharonov et al qp/01 [coherent decays]; > s.a. diffraction.
@ Other topics: Guerra & Robotti phy/05 [Majorana and the Thomas-Fermi statistical model]; > diffraction [Kapitza-Dirac effect].

And Fundamental Physics > s.a. equivalence principle; interference; lorentz group phenomenology; vacuum.
* Atomic interferometry: Interference between atoms in a double-slit experiment was first seen in 1991; Now can be used as a gyroscope using the Sagnac effect, or to measure accelerations (with a precision of the order of 10^–9 g); A space version has been proposed as a way to improve tests of violations of the equivalence principle, as a high-resolution gradiometer, and to map the gravitomagnetic field (as opposed to integrating it like with Gravity Probe-B); 2008, Used to measure G.
@ Atoms and light: Shore & Knight JMO(93) [Jaynes-Cummings model]; Pike & Sarkar 96; Loudon 00; Clark & Parkins qp/02 [2-level atoms + squeezed light]; Griesemer mp/04-in, Amour et al mp/05 [non-relativistic matter + QED]; Guo et al qp/05 [and Freeman resonances]; > s.a. types of quantum field theories [coupled to atoms].
@ Electroweak theory: Bennett & Wieman PRL(99) + pn(99)mar [Z-mediated, P-violating transitions].
@ Standard model: Ginges & Flambaum PRP(04) [and beyond].
@ Hadronic atoms: Gotta IJMPA(05) [pionic H]; Schweizer IJMPA(05) [spectrum, decays].

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Send feedback and suggestions to bombelli at olemiss.edu – Modified 18 jun 2008