The Hydrogen Atom

Atomic hydrogen, the simplest of all stable atoms, has been a challenge to spectroscopists and theoreticians for many years. Here, as in similar systems like positronium, muonium and possibly helium, the accuracy of theoretical predictions is comparable to that of experimental measurements. Hence exciting confrontations are possible. This together with expected large experimental improvements explains the strong interest in the symposium held in Pisa in June-July 1988. The resulting book completely covers the precision spectroscopy of atomic hydrogen and hydrogen-like systems, and also discusses aspects of QED and the influence of strong fields.

I Precision Spectroscopy of Hydrogen: Fundamental Physics and Universal Constants.- The Hydrogen Atom (An Historical Account of Studies of Its Spectrum).- Interference of the Hydrogen Atom States (n=2).- Separated Oscillatory Field Measurement of the Lamb Shift in H, n=2.- Hydrogen Spectroscopy and Fundamental Physics.- Doppler-Free Two-Photon Spectroscopy of Hydrogen Rydberg States: Remeasurement of R?.- Two-Photon Transitions Between Discrete States.- Two-Photon Spectroscopy of Hydrogen 1S-2S.- 1S-2S Transition-Frequency Calibration.- High Resolution Spectroscopy of Hydrogen.- Trapped Atomic Hydrogen.- Atomic Hydrogen in a Magnetic Trapping Field.- Frequency Standards in the Optical Spectrum.- Precision RF Spectroscopy of Circular Rydberg Atoms.- II Positronium, Muonium, and Other Hydrogen-Like Systems.- Laser Spectroscopy of Positronium and Muonium.- Positronium Decay Rates.- New Schemes for the Production and Spectroscopy of Positronium.- Some Recent Advances in Muonium.- Transitions in Muonic Helium Ions Induced Laser Radiation.- Positrons for Low Energy Antihydrogen Production.- Antihydrogen Positronium-Antiproton Interaction.- Antiprotonic Hydrogen.- The Spectroscopy of Hydrogen-Like Highly Ionised Atoms.- IlI Quantum Electrodynamics and Beyond.- The Bound State Problem in QED.- Electron g - 2 and High Precision Determination of ?.- General QED/QCD Aspects of Simple Systems.- Search for Parity Nonconservation in Hydrogen.- IV Hydrogen in Strong Fields and Chaos.- Multiphoton Transition to the Continuum of Atomic Hydrogen.- Hydrogen in Strong DC and Low Frequency Electric Fields - One Dimensional Atoms.- Hydrogen Atoms in Strong Magnetic Fields - in the Laboratory and in the Cosmos.- Theory of Chaos in the Atomic Hydrogen.- Quantum Chaos and the Hydrogen Atom in Strong Magnetic Fields.- Highly Excited Hydrogen in Strong Microwaves: Experimental Tests for Classically Chaotic Semiclassical Dynamics and for Quantum Localization.- Quasi-Landau Spectrum of the Chaotic Diamagnetic Hydrogen Atom.- Index of Contributors.