The development of the laser and the subsequent expansion of research in the field of molecular scattering of light tend to ob scure the vast literature that accumulated on this subject during th'e last fifty years. The appearance of the Russian edition of Dr. Fabelinskii's book, just as this laser-induced explosion in light-scattering research took place, served to put the earlier work in its proper perspective. However, the book lacked any appreci able coverage of the laser work. Fortunately, Dr. Fabelinskii has taken advantage of the time between the appearance of the Russian text and its translation into English to expand greatly the sections devoted to areas in which laser research has made such interesting and vital additions, At the same time, revisions and insertions have been made throughout the text, so that the English translation is virtually a second edition of this useful work. The translator wishes to express his thanks here to Dr. Fa belinskii for making the revisions, corrections, and additions availahle for the English language work. He is also grateful to his graduate student, Mark B. Moffett, who prepared the index and who, during the course of its preparation, made a large number of crit ical comments and corrections that have enhanced the quality of the final product.

The Advances in Chemical Physics series provides the chemical physics and physical chemistry fields with a forum for critical, authoritative evaluations of advances in every area of the discipline. Filled with cutting-edge research reported in a cohesive manner not found elsewhere in the literature, each volume of the Advances in Chemical Physics series serves as the perfect supplement to any advanced graduate class devoted to the study of chemical physics.

Recent years have seen tremendous progress in research on cold and controlled molecular collisions, both in theory and in experiment. The advent of techniques to prepare cold and ultracold molecules and ions, to store them in optical lattices or in charged quasicristalline structures, and to use them in crossed or merged beam experiments have opened many new possibilities to study the most fundamental aspects of molecular interactions. At the same time, theoretical work has made progress in tackling these problems and accurately describing quantum effects in complex systems, and in proposing viable options to control chemical reactions at ultralow energies. Through tutorials on both the theoretical and experimental aspects of research in cold and ultracold molecular collisions, this book provides advanced undergraduate students, graduate students and researchers with the foundations needed to understand this exciting field.

Methods in Computational Physics, Volume 10: Atomic and Molecular Scattering presents the digital methods used in producing quantitative results from the theory of atomic and molecular scattering. This volume contains seven chapters that specifically consider the methods that produce quantum mechanical wavefunctions from which cross sections are deduced. Chapter 1 covers the solutions of the systems of coupled integro-differential equations using the Hartree and Hartree-Fock methods for atomic structure calculations and the eigenfunction expansion method for electron-atom collision calculations. Chapter 2 treats the translation of the formal results into a generally applicable, efficient, and numerically stable method for solving quantum-mechanical scattering problems. Chapter 3 discusses the exponential method of solution as applied in inelastic scattering, the reaction coordinates for a collinear reactive system, and the modifications of the computational method required for reactive scattering. Chapter 4 outlines the theory and the calculational techniques involved in the use of algebraic expansions in scattering problems, while Chapter 5 deals with the solution of the close-coupled equations. Chapter 6 evaluates the collision between two quantum-mechanical systems with internal structure using the quantum-mechanical operator equations. Lastly, Chapter 7 focuses on the principles and applications of classical trajectory methods.

Ranging from the physics of elementary particles to the structure of viruses, the subject matter of the book reflects the importance of optical activity and chirality in much of modern science and will be of interest to a wide range of physical and life scientists.

The aim of the book is to give a coherent and comprehensive account of quantum scattering theory with applications to atomic, molecular and nuclear systems. The motivation for this is to supply the necessary theoretical tools to calculate scattering observables of these many-body systems. Concepts which are seemingly different for atomic/molecular scattering from those of nuclear systems, are shown to be the same once physical units such as energy and length are diligently clarified. Many-body resonances excited in nuclear systems are the same as those in atomic systems and come under the name of Feshbach resonances. We also lean heavily on semi-classical methods to explain the physics of quantum scattering OCo especially the interference seen in the angle dependence of the cross section. Having in mind a wide readership, the book includes sections on scattering in two dimensions which is of use in surface physics. Several problems are also included at the end of each of the chapters.

Part 1: SCATTERING OF WAVES BY MACROSCOPIC TARGET -- Interdisciplinary aspects of wave scattering -- Acoustic scattering -- Acoustic scattering: approximate methods -- Electromagnetic wave scattering: theory -- Electromagnetic wave scattering: approximate and numerical methods -- Electromagnetic wave scattering: applications -- Elastodynamic wave scattering: theory -- Elastodynamic wave scattering: Applications -- Scattering in Oceans -- Part 2: SCATTERING IN MICROSCOPIC PHYSICS AND CHEMICAL PHYSICS -- Introduction to direct potential scattering -- Introduction to Inverse Potential Scattering -- Visible and Near-visible Light Scattering -- Practical Aspects of Visible and Near-visible Light Scattering -- Nonlinear Light Scattering -- Atomic and Molecular Scattering: Introduction to Scattering in Chemical -- X-ray Scattering -- Neutron Scattering -- Electron Diffraction and Scattering -- Part 3: SCATTERING IN NUCLEAR PHYSICS -- Nuclear Physics -- Part 4: PARTICLE SCATTERING -- State of the Art of Peturbative Methods -- Scattering Through Electro-weak Interactions (the Fermi Scale) -- Scattering Through Strong Interactions (the Hadronic or QCD Scale) -- Part 5: SCATTERING AT EXTREME PHYSICAL SCALES -- Scattering at Extreme Physical Scales -- Part 6: SCATTERING IN MATHEMATICS AND NON-PHYSICAL SCIENCES -- Relations with Other Mathematical Theories -- Inverse Scattering Transform and Non-linear Partial Differenttial Equations -- Scattering of Mathematical Objects.

Covers quantum scattering theories, experimental and theoretical calculations and applications in a comprehensive manner.

The aim of the book is to give a coherent and comprehensive account of quantum scattering theory with applications to atomic, molecular and nuclear systems. The motivation for this is to supply the necessary theoretical tools to calculate scattering observables of these many-body systems. Concepts, which are seemingly different for the atomic/molecular scattering from those for nuclear systems, are shown to be the same once the physical units such as energy, length are diligently clarified. Many-body resonances excited in nuclear systems are the same as those in atomic systems and come under the name of Feshbach resonances. We clarify this. We also lean heavily on semi-classical methods to explain the physics of quantum scattering and especially the interference seen in the angle dependence of the cross section. Having in mind a wider readership, the book includes sections on scattering in two dimensions, which is of use in surface physics. Several problems are also included at the end of each of the chapters.

Scattering is one of the most powerful methods used to study the structure of matter, and many of the most important breakthroughs in physics have been made by means of scattering. Nearly a century has passed since the first investigations in this field, and the work undertaken since then has resulted in a rich literature encompassing both experimental and theoretical results. In scattering, one customarily studies collisions among nuclear, sub-nuclear, atomic or molecular particles, and as these are intrinsically quantum systems, it is logical that quantum mechanics is used as the basis for modern scattering theory. In Principles of Quantum Scattering Theory, the author judiciously combines physical intuition and mathematical rigour to present various selected principles of quantum scattering theory. As always in physics, experiment should be used to ultimately validate physical and mathematical modelling, and the author presents a number of exemplary illustrations, comparing theoretical and experimental cross sections in a selection of major inelastic ion-atom collisions at high non-relativistic energies. Quantum scattering theory, one of the most beautiful theories in physics, is also very rich in mathematics. Principles of Quantum Scattering Theory is intended primarily for graduate physics students, but also for non-specialist physicists for whom the clarity of exposition should aid comprehension of these mathematical complexities.