Quantum Theory for Chemical Applications

Abstract

Abstract ‘Quantum Theory for Chemical Applications (QTCA): From basic concepts to advanced topics’ is an introduction to quantum theory for students and practicing researchers in chemistry, chemical engineering, or materials chemistry. The text is self-contained such that only knowledge of high school physics, college introductory calculus, and college general chemistry is required, and it features many worked-out exercises. QTCA places special emphasis on the orbital models that are central to chemical applications of quantum theory. QTCA treats the important basic topics that a quantum theory text for chemistry must cover, and less-often treated models, such as the postulates of quantum theory and the mathematical background, the particle in a box, in a cylinder, and in a sphere, the harmonic oscillator and molecular vibrations, atomic and molecular orbitals, electron correlation, perturbation theory, and the basic aspects of various spectroscopies. Additional basic and advanced topics advanced topics that are covered in QTCA are band structure theory, relativistic quantum theory and its relevance to chemistry, the interactions of atoms and molecules with electromagnetic fields, and response theory. Finally, while it is not primarily a guide to computational chemistry, QTCA provides a solid theoretical background for many of the quantum chemistry methods used in contemporary research and in undergraduate computational chemistry laboratory courses. The text includes several appendices with important mathematical background, such as linear algebra and point group symmetry.