CHM 6471

SPRING 2006, Sect. 0810: Prof. Öhrn's office is NPB2312; Tel 392-1597; OFFICE HOURS: Monday and Friday 4:00-5:00 p.m. and any other time by appointment. CLASSES meet Tu, Th, and Fr. Period 6 (12:50-1:40 p.m.) , NPB2228 TEXT: Öhrn, "Elements of Molecular Symmetry", Wiley&Sons, 2000

• Week Jan. 09: Introduction to Group Theory
• Week Jan. 16: Introduction to Group Algebra and Convolution Algebra
• Week Jan. 23: Reducible and irreducible Subspaces
• Week Jan. 30: Schur's Lemma
• Week Feb. 06: Spectral Analysis of Representations
• Week Feb. 13: Outer and Inner Direct Products
• Week Feb. 20: Point Groups
• Week Feb. 27: The Symmetric Group
• Week Mar. 06: Connection to Chemistry. The Secular Problem.
• Week Mar. 20: Atomic and Molecular Orbitals
• Week Mar. 27: Molecular Wavefunctions
• Week Apr. 03: Atomic and Molecular Terms
• Week Apr. 10: Applications to Molecular Vibrations
• Week Apr. 17: Spectroscopy
• Apr. 25: REVIEW

Classes suspended: Mar. 13-17 (Spring Break)

• The FINAL GRADE will be based on TEST 1 (20%), TEST 2 (20%), FINAL (50%), and HOMEWORK (10%)
• TEST 1, in-class, Feb 14; TEST 2, in-class, April 3, FINAL, take-home, due May 03 at 5:00 pm in NPB 2312
• HOMEWORK will be assigned each Thursday and is due the following Thursday before 5:00 p.m. Attendance of all lectures is expected for a passing grade.

Course content: Some emphasis will be given to the overall structure of the theory of symmetry using the concepts of group algebra and functions over a group. Details of theorems and proofs will be covered only as illustrations and the aim of the course is to teach a working knowledge of how to use the tools of group theory for various applications to molecular electronic structure, molecular vibrations, and molecular spectra.