This book provides a coherent introduction to the manifestations of chaos in atoms and molecules.

This new edition presents the recent developments in atomic physics. Beginning with a review of quantum mechanics, the book covers important areas of theoretical atomic physics, including semiclassical theory, periodic orbit theory, scaling properties for atoms in external fields, threshold behavior of ionization cross sections, and classical quantum dynamics of two-electron atoms.

Discusses quantum chaos, an important area of nonlinear science.

This book aims to familiarize the reader with the essential properties of the chaotic dynamics of Hamiltonian systems by avoiding specialized mathematical tools, thus making it easily accessible to a broader audience of researchers and students. Unique material on the most intriguing and fascinating topics of unsolved and current problems in contemporary chaos theory is presented. The coverage includes: separatrix chaos; properties and a description of systems with non-ergodic dynamics; the distribution of Poincar(r) recurrences and their role in transport theory; dynamical models of the MaxwellOCOs Demon, the occurrence of persistent fluctuations, and a detailed discussion of their role in the problem underlying the foundation of statistical physics; the emergence of stochastic webs in phase space and their link to space tiling with periodic (crystal type) and aperiodic (quasi-crystal type) symmetries. This second edition expands on pseudochaotic dynamics with weak mixing and the new phenomenon of fractional kinetics, which is crucial to the transport properties of chaotic motion. The book is ideally suited to all those who are actively working on the problems of dynamical chaos as well as to those looking for new inspiration in this area. It introduces the physicist to the world of Hamiltonian chaos and the mathematician to actual physical problems.The material can also be used by graduate students."

Atomic physics and its underlying quantum theory are the point of departure for many modern areas of physics, astrophysics, chemistry, biology, and even electrical engineering. This textbook provides a careful and eminently readable introduction to the results and methods of empirical atomic physics. The student will acquire the tools of quantum physics and at the same time learn about the interplay between experiment and theory. A chapter on the quantum theory of the chemical bond provides the reader with an introduction to molecular physics. Plenty of problems are given to elucidate the material. The authors also discuss laser physics and nonlinear spectroscopy, incorporating latest experimental results and showing their relevance to basic research. Extra items in the second edition include solutions to the exercises, derivations of the relativistic Klein-Gordon and Dirac equations, a detailed theoretical derivation of the Lamb shift, a discussion of new developments in the spectroscopy of inner shells, and new applications of NMR spectroscopy, for instance tomography.

The study of quantum systems which are chaotic in the classical limit (quantum chaos or quantum chaology) is a very new field of research. Not long ago, it was still considered as an esoteric subject, however this attitude changed radically when it was realized that this subject is relevant to many of the more mature branches of physics. This book presents the accumulated knowledge available up until now and at the same time introduces topics which are being intensively studied at present. Their relevance to other fields such as condensed matter, atomic and nuclear physics is also discussed. The lectures have been divided into two rough categories - background and advanced lectures.

Of the variety of nonlinear dynamical systems that exhibit deterministic chaos optical systems both lasers and passive devices provide nearly ideal systems for quantitative investigation due to their simplicity both in construction and in the mathematics that describes them. In view of their growing technical application the understanding, control and possible exploitation of sources of instability in these systems has considerable practical importance. The aim of this volume is to provide a comprehensive coverage of the current understanding of optical instabilities through a series of reviews by leading researchers in the field. The book comprises nine chapters, five on active (laser) systems and four on passive optically bistable systems. Instabilities and chaos in single- (and multi-) mode lasers with homogeneously and broadened gain media are presented and the influence of an injected signal, loss modulation and also feedback of laser output on this behaviour is treated. Both electrically excited and optically pumped gas lasers are considered, and an analysis of dynamical instabilities in the emission from free electron lasers are presented. Instabilities in passive optically bistable systems include a detailed analysis of the global bifurcations and chaos in which transverse effects are accounted for. Experimental verification of degenerative pulsations and chaos in intrinsic bistable systems is described for various optical feedback systems in which atomic and molecular gases and semiconductors are used as the nonlinear media. Results for a hybrid bistable optical system are significant in providing an important test of current understanding of the dynamical behaviour of passive bistable systems.

The subject of chaos has invaded practically every area of the natural sciences. Weather patterns are referred to as chaotic. There are chemical reactions and chaotic evolution of insect populations. Atomic and molecular physics have also seen the emergence of the study of chaos in these microscopic domains. This book examines the issue of chaos in nonlinear and dynamical systems, quantum mechanics, biology, and economics.

The field of chaos in many-body quantum systems has a long history, going back to Wigner's simple models for heavy nuclei. Quantum chaos is being investigated in a broad variety of experimental platforms such as heavy nuclei, driven (few-electron) atoms, ultracold quantum gases, and photonic or microwave realizations. Quantum chaos plays a new and important role in many branches of physics, from condensed matter problems of many-body localization, including thermalization studies in closed and open quantum systems, and the question of dynamical stability relevant for quantum information and quantum simulation. This Special Issue and its related book address theories and experiments, methods from classical chaos, semiclassics, and random matrix theory, as well as many-body condensed matter physics. It is dedicated to Prof. Shmuel Fishman, who was one of the major representatives of the field over almost four decades, who passed away in 2019.

Based on courses given at the universities of Texas and California, this book treats an active field of research that touches upon the foundations of physics and chemistry. It presents, in as simple a manner as possible, the basic mechanisms that determine the dynamical evolution of both classical and quantum systems in sufficient generality to include quantum phenomena. The book begins with a discussion of Noether's theorem, integrability, KAM theory, and a definition of chaotic behavior; continues with a detailed discussion of area-preserving maps, integrable quantum systems, spectral properties, path integrals, and periodically driven systems; and concludes by showing how to apply the ideas to stochastic systems. The presentation is complete and self-contained; appendices provide much of the needed mathematical background, and there are extensive references to the current literature; while problems at the ends of chapters help students clarify their understanding. This new edition has an updated presentation throughout, and a new chapter on open quantum systems.