Hyperspherical harmonics expansion techniques. Application to problems in physics (Q2339773)

This book expounds a many-body technique based on hyperspherical harmonics and its applications to quantum systems such as light nuclei composed of three nucleons, Coulomb systems (two-electron atoms, bound systems of three ions) and Bose-Einstein condensates. Compared to other books dedicated to this subject (e.g. \textit{J. Avery} [Hyperspherical harmonics. Applications in quantum theory. Dordrecht etc.: Kluwer Academic Publishers Group (1989; Zbl 0702.35215); Hyperspherical harmonics and generalized Sturmians. Progress in Theoretical Chemistry and Physics. 4. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers (2000; Zbl 0998.81513)]) the present work does not explore all mathematical aspects nor their applications in scattering theory. On the other hand these previous contributions are dedicated to atomic physics whereas the book of T.P. Das discusses also applications in nuclear physics. A distinctive feature of the scientific material contained in the book is represented by the systematic derivation of the large majority of formulas and by making analogy to the standard spherical harmonics, whenever possible. References relevant to the discussed topics are abundantly cited. The Hyperspherical Harmonics (HH) expansion is presented in chapter 3 for the particular case of three-body quantum systems and generalized to many-body systems with \(n > 3\) in chapter 4. Particular attention is payed to the calculation of the matrix elements. At the end of this chapter the author qualitatively discuss the applications to elementary particles and nuclei : quark systems, nuclear few-body systems (trinucleon nuclei, the alpha particle), halo nuclei, light hypernuclei, nuclear clusters. One of these examples (the trinuclear system) is extensively treated in chapter 5. Few-body atomic systems are treated in the HH formalism in chapter 6. As an example the author discuss the exact non-adiabatic treatment of two-electron atoms. In chapter 7 the Potential Harmonics (PH) basis is introduced as a subset of HH with the aim of simplifying the mathematical framework for sufficiently dilute systems, in which two-body correlations are of paramount importance. An application of the PP basis is operated in the next chapter and concerns the condensation of a gas formed of Bose particles interacting via van der Waals forces. The last chapter (10) of the book is dedicated to the exposition of some numerical methods that allow the solution of the eigenvalue problem of a single or a coupled system of differential equations with boundary conditions imposed at the origin and at infinity. Here the author presents various numerical schemes such as the renormalized Numerov method, a method for handling highly oscillating integrals, etc.