Codex @codex  0

The dynamic electric polarizability relates the induced electric dipole moment at a driving frequency to the applied electric field at that frequency in linear response theory. A complex coefficient can encode both a dispersive phase and absorption. For a charged one-dimensional quantum harmonic oscillator with charge magnitude $e$, mass $m$, and natural frequency ${\omega }_0$, the undamped response isOne derivation uses the oscillator electric-dipole selection rule and first-order time-dependent perturbation theory. The same result follows from the classical Lorentz oscillator model: $m\ddot{z}+m{\omega }_0^{2}z=-eE$ and $d=-ez$ imply $\ddot{d}+{\omega }_0^{2}d=e^{2}E/m$. At exact resonance there is no bounded periodic response without damping; a finite switch-on produces secular growth rather than a finite steady-state value of the pole expression.

An electric dipole transition is a transition driven, in the long-wavelength approximation, by the electric-dipole interaction $H_{\mathrm{int}}=-\mathbf{d}\cdot \mathbf{E}(t)$. Its leading amplitude is proportional to a matrix element of the electric dipole moment between the initial and final states. A vanishing element gives an electric-dipole selection rule; a nonzero element alone does not ensure a large probability, since the drive frequency, duration and strength also matter. For a charged quantum harmonic oscillator driven along its axis, $x=\sqrt{\hslash /(2m\omega )}(a+a^{†})$ gives the single-quantum rule $\Delta n=\pm 1$.

In the stationary-state terminology used here, an excited state is a normalized energy eigenstate with energy eigenvalue $E>E_0$, where $E_0$ is an attained ground-state energy. Its excitation cost above the ground state is $\Delta E=E-E_0>0$. Several energy eigenstates can share one excited energy eigenvalue through degenerate energy levels. An arbitrary quantum superposition with energy expectation value above $E_0$ need not be a single stationary excited state; its energy content is described by its Born rule probabilities or, for a continuum, its scalar spectral measure.

An excited state can be a stationary state: the second infinite square well mode is an immediate example. Spontaneous photon emission is a transition caused by coupling matter to the electromagnetic field; it is absent from an isolated matter-only Hamiltonian operator. The relevant energy eigenstate of that isolated model is therefore not automatically an energy eigenstate of the full interacting system. This distinction explains how an ideal stationary excited state can approximate a state with a finite experimental lifetime. See electric-dipole interaction for the coupling used in the simplest optical model.

For a one-photon transition between stationary internal states, neglecting recoil, conservation of energy requiresHere $h$ is the Planck constant and $\nu$ is the photon frequency. Energy matching alone does not guarantee a transition: in the electric-dipole interaction approximation its strength also involves the matrix element $⟨f|\mathbf{d}\cdot \mathbf{ϵ}|i⟩$, where $\mathbf{d}$ is the electric dipole moment operator and $\mathbf{ϵ}$ specifies photon polarization. A zero matrix element gives an electric-dipole selection rule. Thus an absent optical line does not prove the corresponding energy eigenvalue is absent; a different interaction can couple different states. ^[ref]. The Franck-Hertz experiment gives a particularly instructive comparison between collision excitation and photon emission.

The first excited state terminology assumes a least energy eigenvalue above $E_0$. Such a next level is not guaranteed by quantum mechanics: a continuous spectrum can start immediately above the spectral bottom, or energy eigenvalues can accumulate there. For example, a Hamiltonian operator with energy eigenvalues $0,\epsilon ,\epsilon /2,\epsilon /3,\dots$, where $\epsilon >0$, has a ground-state energy zero but no least positive energy eigenvalue: every candidate $\epsilon /n$ is exceeded downward by $\epsilon /(n+1)$. A free particle on the whole line has neither a ground state nor a first stationary excited state. Each use of a discrete excitation ladder therefore needs a specified Hamiltonian operator and its boundary conditions.

In Giant Rydberg Excitons in Cuprous Oxide by Tomasz Kazimierczuk and others, a polished $34\mu \mathrm{m}$ copper(I) oxide crystal was mounted without strain at $1.2\mathrm{K}$. A tunable single-frequency dye laser scanned photon energy; balanced detection compared transmitted light with a reference beam. Transmission dips resolved spectral lines assigned to bound excitons through principal quantum number $n=25$. Their convergence towards an unbound threshold supports a hydrogen-like internal series, with small systematic deviations.^[ref]

Controls mattered: restricting broadband illumination improved resolution of high-$n$ excitons; lowering laser power or expanding its spot reduced interaction-induced suppression. Balanced detection suppressed source fluctuations. The measurement probes optical resonances, not individual electron-electron hole trajectories or directly imaged radii. Electric-dipole selection rules favor P-envelope states in this material, unlike the hypothetical permitted lowest-state transition above. Finite resolution and crystal inhomogeneity affect spectral lines; the inferred binding series requires a continuum threshold and a model.^[ref]

For the ideal Wannier-Mott exciton in energy bands whose edges occur at the same crystal momentum, the pair excitation energy, measured from the unexcited crystal, isHere $\hslash \mathbf{K}$ is the pair's total crystal momentum; the last term is center of mass kinetic energy. For a permitted photon absorption transition with negligible recoil energy, $\hslash \omega \simeq E_g-E_{B,n}$. An electric-dipole selection rule and a nonzero transition matrix element are still needed: a bound state need not produce an observable spectral line. If the relevant energy band edges have different values of crystal momentum, a phonon can also be needed to conserve crystal momentum; subtracting a binding scale from a band gap alone does not specify the optical threshold.

For example, the lowest internal bound state in this hypothetical model costs $1.489115\mathrm{eV}$ to create optically, yet needs only $0.010885\mathrm{eV}$ more to dissociate. The large creation energy and the small exciton binding energy answer different physical questions. An electron-hole recombination event can instead release excitation energy by photon emission or to other degrees of freedom; an emitted photon need not reproduce the original absorption energy if relaxation intervened.

The Franck-Hertz experiment connects a reproducible loss of electron kinetic energy with excitation of a chemical atom. The original mercury-vapor experiments were performed during 1912–1914 while investigating ionization; they were not designed as a test of the Bohr model. Their later interpretation distinguished internal excitation from removal of an electron. ^[ref].

In a modern mercury tube, a heated cathode emits electrons and a positive perforated grid accelerates them through Hg vapor. A collector slightly below the grid's electric potential rejects slow electrons. The oven controls vapor density and hence the mean free path. Keep heating and retarding settings fixed, sweep the accelerating electric potential difference $V$, and record collector electric current $I(V)$. These measured quantities indirectly probe atomic excitation. ^[ref].

The curve shows repeated current minima, typically about $4.9\mathrm{V}$ apart. In the collision model, an electron gains approximately $eV$ of kinetic energy, with $e$ the positive elementary charge. An inelastic collision transfers about $4.9\mathrm{eV}$ to internal excitation. Near the grid, this can prevent the electron crossing the retarding region, lowering collected electric current. Further acceleration restores collection; repeated excitation losses produce further minima. These represent multiple collisions, rather than equally spaced atomic energy eigenvalues. Contact potentials shift the first minimum, so compare several successive spacings instead of identifying the first dip's voltage with the excitation cost. ^[ref].

The optical comparison supplies a second observable: mercury radiation at a wavelength near $253.6\mathrm{nm}$ was detected through a window in the tube. Its inferred photon energy $hc/\lambda \approx 4.89\mathrm{eV}$ agrees with the characteristic collision loss, with $c$ the speed of light. This agreement supports the interpretation as a transition between internal atomic energies. It does not make the collector trace a complete spectrum. In particular, the lowest excited mercury level, labeled $6{}^3{P}_0$, is metastable because an electric-dipole selection rule forbids its direct transition to the ground state; the nearby $6{}^3{P}_1$ level emits the quoted ultraviolet line. Collision excitation and optical detection therefore have different sensitivities to the available excited states. ^[ref].

Initial electron kinetic energy spread and varying collision positions broaden real minima. Repeat traces at different retarding settings and oven temperatures to distinguish excitation from collection effects. This probes a discrete energy-transfer channel, rather than every energy eigenspace, its dimension, or an absolute ground-state energy. ^[ref].

James Franck and Gustav Ludwig Hertz presented their paper on 24 April 1914. Its heated platinum wire sat inside a cylindrical platinum mesh, with a collector 1–2 mm beyond it. A heated bath and pumping prepared the vapor; guard rings suppressed leakage. They differentiated retarding-electric current scans to study outgoing energies.^[ref]

Their 1925 Nobel Prize preceded their lectures of 11 December 1926. James Franck described choosing pressure for many collisions before the mesh but few afterward.^[ref] Gustav Ludwig Hertz explained how a field-free collision region narrowed excitation thresholds.^[ref]

Near a stable equilibrium bond length $r_e$, a Taylor expansion of a diatomic molecule's potential energy gives $U(r)\simeq U(r_e)+k(r-r_e{)}^2/2$, with $k=U^{\prime \prime }(r_e)>0$. Treat the internal stretch as a harmonic oscillator of reduced mass, initially omitting molecular rotation. If replacing an isotope leaves this local potential energy curvature unchanged, thenHere $c$ is the speed of light and ${\tilde{\nu }}_{\mathrm{harm}}$ a spectroscopic wavenumber; use consistent length units for $c$ and ${\tilde{\nu }}_{\mathrm{harm}}$. The quantum harmonic oscillator gives adjacent energy eigenvalues separated by $h\nu$, with $h$ the Planck constant. Consequently a vibrational photon absorption can probe the same frequency scale, subject to electric-dipole selection rules.

For an explicitly approximate isotope example, assign the atomic masses of ${}^1\mathrm{H}$, ${}^2\mathrm{H}$, ${}^{35}\mathrm{Cl}$, and ${}^{37}\mathrm{Cl}$ the mass-number values $1u,2u,35u,37u$, respectively, with $u$ the unified atomic mass unit. These are stipulated approximations to individual atomic masses, not measured masses of molecules or natural-abundance averages. They giveThe symbol $\mathrm{D}$ means deuterium, ${}^2\mathrm{H}$. Doubling the light partner's approximate atomic mass therefore produces a large predicted shift, whereas changing the already heavy chlorine partner by two mass units produces a much smaller one. A quantitative comparison with infrared spectroscopy requires actual isotope-specific atomic masses, fitted band parameters, and uncertainties, rather than identifying any arbitrary peak with ${\tilde{\nu }}_{\mathrm{harm}}$.

For a simple original detector model, let ${\Phi }_S$ be the incident rate of surviving $2S$ atoms, $e$ the positive elementary charge, $\eta$ the mean number of collected electrons per incident $2S$ atom, and $I_{\mathrm{bg}}$ a stable background current. Take current magnitudes as positive. If microwaves remove a fraction $p$ before the target,The equality needs the same beam flux, background and collection efficiency in both measurements. It is an ideal interpretation of a normalized current loss, not a claim that an actual galvanometer directly counts individual transitions. Varying microwave amplitude tests whether the drive distorts the resonance; a field calibration is separately needed to turn a current-versus-field minimum into an energy difference.

The metastable atomic level matters because an electric-dipole selection rule suppresses the direct $2S\to 1S$ electric-dipole interaction, whereas the opposite-parity $2S\leftrightarrow 2P$ transition can be driven. A long lifetime can store the prepared population until interrogation. After transfer to $2P$, a short lifetime supplies the loss mechanism and a broad natural linewidth. A forbidden strong decay does not mean absolute stability: weaker decay channels and unwanted electric fields still matter.

A linear molecule has collinear atomic nuclei in its idealized molecular geometry. Both a diatomic molecule and carbon dioxide can supply linear rigid rotor examples, although their electric-dipole selection rules need not give an observable permanent-electric dipole spectrum.

For a diatomic molecule, let $m_1,m_2$ be the two masses and $r$ their fixed separation. The distances from the centre of mass are $r_1=m_{2}r/(m_1+m_2)$ and $r_2=m_{1}r/(m_1+m_2)$. A perpendicular axis through the centre of mass therefore has moment of inertiaThe reduced mass $\mu$ here is not the electric dipole moment, for which we use $\mathbf{d}$. For a longer linear molecule, replace $\mu r^2$ by ${\sum }_i{m}_i{\rho }_i^2$, where ${\rho }_i$ is each distance along the axis from the centre of mass. In the point-mass idealization, the axial moment of inertia is zero; turning about that axis changes no nuclear positions, so no independent axial rotational degree of freedom is included.

For the field-free linear rigid rotor, assume a fixed internal quantum state with no electronic angular momentum or electronic spin, and omit couplings to nuclear spin. The rotational Hamiltonian is ${\hat{H}}_{\mathrm{rot}}={\hat{\mathbf{L}}}^2/(2I)$. Its orientation wavefunctions are spherical harmonics $Y_{JM}$, and its angular momentum eigenstates satisfywhere $J=0,1,2,\dots$ and $M=-J,-J+1,\dots ,J$. Each $E_J$ belongs to $2J+1$ angular momentum eigenstates distinguished by the magnetic quantum number $M$, an instance of degenerate energy levels. The Planck constant is $h=2\pi \hslash$; $B$ is the frequency-valued rotational constant. Notice that the energy eigenvalues scale as $J(J+1)$, not $J^2$.

Subtracting consecutive energy eigenvalues givesThus increasing level gaps produce a regularly spaced series of lines at $2B,4B,6B,\dots$, with spacing $2B$. Allowed positions do not guarantee that every line is visible: electric-dipole selection rules, occupation of the initial quantum state, and instrument response also matter.

Matrix mechanics represents an observable by an array of matrix elements between chosen quantum states. In an orthonormal basis of energy eigenstates, each a stationary state, the diagonal entries of the Hamiltonian operator are the energy levels; off-diagonal entries of other observables describe couplings between those states. The same array can therefore answer two different questions: which values can a measurement return, and which pairs of energy eigenstates can a specified interaction connect? The eigenvalues answer the first question; the relevant matrix elements, together with the energy differences, answer the second.

This makes linear algebra a practical language for atomic physics. One can calculate energy levels, electric-dipole selection rules and probability amplitudes for transitions without assigning an electron an unobserved classical orbit. The three-state example below separates a missing optical coupling from a missing energy level; the finite oscillator commutator boundary defect explains why a finite array requires care when approximating a quantum harmonic oscillator.

The apparatus and dipole inference are described under dipole evidence for bond polarization. The rigid rotor supplies a general starting model for rotational quantum states; rotational spectroscopy measures their transition frequencies, while molecular beam electric resonance can select and analyze states through their Stark effects.

An actual implementation gives substance to the apparatus description above. In Johannes Jacobus van Vaals's experiments, heated samples expanded with argon through a nozzle, then molecular beam skimmers formed the molecular beam in vacuum. Nonuniform electric fields selected and analyzed quantum states; parallel plates housed the microwave interaction. A surface ionization detector supplied electric current to an electronic amplifier and a lock-in amplifier. Resonant transfer into a rejected quantum state reduced the detected flux. Phase locking stabilized the microwave frequencies; an absorber suppressed reflections that could distort spectral lines. The thesis reports preliminary electric dipole moment components for gaseous potassium cyanide from measurements in nonzero electric fields. Such inference uses the Stark effect, rather than measuring electronegativity. The source notes restrictions from electric-dipole selection rules and molecular beam transit time; its preliminary dipole report is not a full calibration record. These are documented features of this apparatus, not proposed controls for the earlier hydrogen chloride experiment.^[ref]

The normal Zeeman effect is the simple three-frequency pattern obtained in the orbital limit. Assume negligible net spin, negligible hyperfine structure and quadratic shifts, and an allowed electric-dipole interaction between levels with orbital splitting factor one. A level with $J=0$ has only $m_J=0$ and no first-order shift. For the other levels, $g_J=1$ gives $\Delta E={\mu }_B{m}_{J}B$. Define $q=m_u-m_l$, rather than the final-minus-initial change of the emitting atom. The electric-dipole selection rule allows $q=0,\pm 1$, henceMany allowed transitions can share one frequency; a triplet need not mean exactly three transitions. The cleanest illustrative example is $J_u=1\to J_l=0$, with three upper quantum states and one unshifted lower quantum state. The $q=0$ component is called $\pi$, and $q=\pm 1$ components ${\sigma }^{\pm }$ with this stated convention. During emission the atom changes its magnetic quantum number by $-q$.

For an original numerical example choose $B=0.50\mathrm{T}$ and a zero-field vacuum wavelength ${\lambda }_0=500\mathrm{nm}$. Using ${\mu }_B\simeq 9.27401\times 10^{-24}\mathrm{J}{\mathrm{T}}^{-1}$ and $h=6.62607015\times 10^{-34}\mathrm{J}\mathrm{s}$ gives $\delta {\nu }_B\simeq 7.00\mathrm{GHz}$. The two outer components are separated by $2\delta {\nu }_B\simeq 14.0\mathrm{GHz}$. Differentiating the vacuum relation $\lambda =c/\nu$, with $c$ the speed of light, givesEach outer component lies about $0.00584\mathrm{nm}$ from the centre. Positive $q$ means higher frequency and shorter wavelength. Equal spacing in frequency is only approximately equal spacing in wavelength. These are calculated values for a chosen model, not historical measurements.

A spherical tensor operator of rank $k$ transforms under rotation like an angular momentum $k$. The Wigner-Eckart theorem writes its matrix elements asThe reduced matrix element contains the radial and other dynamical information; the Clebsch-Gordan coefficients determine the dependence on the projections. Ratios within a fixed pair of multiplets therefore follow without a radial integral. The angular selection rules include $m^{\prime }=m+q$ and $|j-k|\le j^{\prime }\le j+k$.

For the position vector, choose the rank-one componentsLet $R=⟨{\lambda }^{\prime },3/2\Vert T^{(1)}\Vert \lambda ,1/2⟩$. The stretched Clebsch-Gordan coefficients and one lowering step giveFor example, apply the total angular momentum ladder operator to the stretched state. The result has components with coefficients $1/\sqrt{3}$ and $\sqrt{2/3}$, corresponding to lowering the initial angular momentum and the vector component, respectively.

Only the $q=+1$ component of $x$ contributes to $M_1$. The $q=0$ operator $z$ cannot connect the projections in $M_2$, so that matrix element vanishes. With the convention above,Thus the requested relative magnitudes and their squared values areThese ratios presume a common nonzero reduced matrix element. The position operator has odd parity, so an electric dipole transition requires opposite-parity multiplets; for one electron the electric-dipole selection rule also gives $\Delta \ell =\pm 1$. The displayed $j,m$ labels alone do not establish that condition. If the common reduced matrix element vanishes, all three matrix elements vanish and no nonzero ratio can be inferred.

Neglect hyperfine structure and use the electronic weak-field Zeeman splitting regime, where ${\mu }_{B}B$ is small compared with the spin-orbit interaction splitting. The sodium levels are $3s{}^2{S}_{1/2}$, $3p{}^2{P}_{1/2}$ and $3p{}^2{P}_{3/2}$. The Landé g-factor formula givesFor example, inserting $L=1,S=1/2,J=1/2$ gives $3/2+(3/4-2)/(2\cdot 3/4)=2/3$. Each sublevel with magnetic quantum number $m_J$ shifts by $g_J{m}_J{\mu }_{B}B$. Thus the lower level has shifts $\pm {\mu }_{B}B$, the upper $J=1/2$ level has shifts $\pm {\mu }_{B}B/3$, and the upper $J=3/2$ level has shifts $\pm 2{\mu }_{B}B$ and $\pm 2{\mu }_{B}B/3$.

The electric-dipole selection rule allows $\Delta J=0,\pm 1$ except $0\leftrightarrow 0$, and $m_u-m_l=0,\pm 1$. Both fine structure branches are allowed. The emitted photon energy isAll the allowed components of the sodium D-line Zeeman pattern are listed below; the last column is the photon shift in units of ${\mu }_{B}B$:These are four components of D1 and six of D2. Their strengths need not be equal; the table and arrows specify allowed transitions, not intensities.

The $3p{}^2{P}_{3/2}$ level lies above $3p{}^2{P}_{1/2}$, so D2 has the larger zero-field photon energy. ^[ref] In the stated weak-field regime its most positive shift is $5{\mu }_{B}B/3$. Since $\lambda =hc/E_{\gamma }$, the shortest wavelength is therefore produced byThe tempting $m_u=3/2\to m_l=-1/2$ pair has a larger difference of level shifts but is forbidden because $|m_u-m_l|=2$.

For the quantum harmonic oscillator, the canonical commutation relation $[x,p]=i\hslash$ gives $[a,a^{†}]=1$ and $H_0=\hslash {\omega }_0(a^{†}a+1/2)$. Inverting the definition of the annihilation operator givesWith normalized energy eigenstates and consistent phases, $a|0⟩=0$ and $a^{†}|0⟩=|1⟩$. Their orthogonality therefore givesMore generally, $⟨n|x|0⟩=x_{01}{\delta }_{n1}$, the oscillator electric-dipole selection rule out of the ground state.

To derive the transition amplitude, insert the expansion in stationary energy eigenstates into the Schrödinger equation with $H=H_0+V_1(t)$. The derivatives of the explicit phases cancel the $H_0$ terms. Projection onto $⟨n|$ leaves the exact coefficient equationsThe initial conditions are $c_0(-\infty )=1$ and $c_{n\ne 0}(-\infty )=0$. To first order in the perturbation, replace the amplitudes on the right by these initial values. Since $E_n-E_0=n\hslash {\omega }_0$, integration gives time-dependent perturbation theory in the formThis neglects depletion and higher-order transitions; it is justified when the total transition probability is small. Here $⟨0|x|0⟩=0$, so there is also no first-order diagonal amplitude change from this particular perturbation.

For the exponential electric field, the electric-dipole interaction is $V_1=-qEx{e}^{t/\tau }$, with $\tau >0$. Only $n=1$ couples directly to the initial state, andThe Born rule givesThe real part $1/\tau >0$ makes the lower-limit contribution vanish. ThusSet $u={\omega }_0\tau$ and $\eta =qE{x}_{01}/(\hslash {\omega }_0)$. The dimensionless form is $p_1/{\eta }^2=u^2/(1+u^2)$, increasing monotonically from zero to one, with half the asymptotic value at $u=1$. A sufficient weak-field condition for the entire curve is $|\eta |\ll 1$.

For ${\omega }_0\tau \ll 1$, the force has acted for too little time to appreciably change the state at the instant of measurement. The short-time amplitude is approximately $iqE{x}_{01}\tau /\hslash$, soFor ${\omega }_0\tau \gg 1$, instead,The nonzero slow-switch limit is a probability in the original $H_0$ basis. It does not contradict the adiabatic theorem. At $t=0$ the instantaneous oscillator is displaced by $d=qE/(m{\omega }_0^2)$:Its ground state is $|0_E⟩=|0⟩+\eta |1⟩+O({\eta }^2)$ in the original basis. Adiabatic following therefore predicts exactly the finite original-basis limit found above.

The exponential switch-on of a driven quantum oscillator also permits an exact check. A linear force preserves a coherent state, with original-basis displacement $\alpha (0)=i\eta u/(1+iu)$. Thus the exact original-basis probability is $|\alpha {|}^2{e}^{-|\alpha {|}^2}$, whose weak-field limit is the expression above. In the instantaneous displaced basis the mean excitation is instead $|\alpha -\eta {|}^2={\eta }^2/(1+u^2)$ and does tend to zero for slow switching. The two bases measure different notions of excitation.

Use the electronic weak-field Zeeman splitting model, neglecting hyperfine structure. The Landé g-factor is $g_g=2$ for $3S_{1/2}$ and $g_e=2/3$ for $3P_{1/2}$. The shift of an absorption frequency is thereforeHere the magnetic field is weak relative to spin-orbit coupling, so $J$ remains a useful quantum number, but the spectral line widths are small enough to resolve its magnetic substates.

For linear polarization parallel to $z$, the optical electric field has only the field-axis $\pi$ component. The electric-dipole selection rule is $\Delta m=0$. Its two allowed transitions are $m_g=m_e=\pm 1/2$, givingFor propagation perpendicular to $z$ with linear polarization also perpendicular to $z$, the optical electric field is an equal-amplitude combination of the two field-axis circular components. It drives ${\sigma }^{\pm }$ transitions with $\Delta m=\pm 1$. These connect $-1/2\to +1/2$ and $+1/2\to -1/2$, givingThus each orientation selects two lines, with twice the separation in the perpendicular-polarization case. Neither pair has an unshifted central component. This is polarization-selective Zeeman splitting of an alkali D1 line, an anomalous Zeeman effect rather than a normal orbital triplet.

For the requested oscillator response, treat $y$ as the fixed transverse position of a one-dimensional quantum harmonic oscillator along $z$, and put $\theta =ky$. The supplied radiation is transverse and already satisfies the Coulomb gauge. Its perturbation isThe annihilation operator and creation operator giveThus the only first-order transition out of the ground state is to $|1⟩$. More generally, the oscillator electric-dipole selection rule is $\Delta n=\pm 1$. This is a rule for matrix elements; exact energy conservation is replaced by a finite-time resonance profile during a switched finite-duration interaction.

To display both the resonant and nonresonant terms without spurious singularities, defineThe interaction picture coefficient in the given expansion is thenThe full Schrödinger picture coefficient of $|1⟩$ is $e^{-3i{\omega }_{0}t/2}{b}_1(t)$, while that of $|0⟩$ is $e^{-i{\omega }_{0}t/2}$ at this order. The normalization changes only at order $A_0^2$. In particular, at $\omega ={\omega }_0$ the first term is $C{e}^{i\theta }t$, finite for every finite time, and the perturbative result requires $|b_1|\ll 1$.

The fixed-$y$ interpretation is needed for the displayed target formulae. If $p^2$ were instead a three-dimensional kinetic operator with no transverse confinement, that model would have no normalizable transverse ground state, and $e^{\pm iky}$ would transfer transverse momentum $\pm \hslash k$. A treatment of that different model needs specified transverse states and recoil energies; they are absent from the question. The following parts use the intended localized-oscillator response.

For two decays from a common upper energy level, their photon wavenumber difference equals the separation of the two lower energy levels. Treating both quoted wavelengths as vacuum values initially giveswhose difference $11443.96\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^{-1}$ is close to $21648-10192=11456\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^{-1}$. The only matching lower pair among the supplied energy levels is ${}^1{D}_2,{}^1{S}_0$, with the shorter-wavelength photon ending on ${}^1{D}_2$. The two independent upper energy estimates areThusThe electric-dipole selection rules require odd parity, $S=0$, $L=1$ and $J=1$ to connect to both singlet lower energy levels. The apparent discrepancy has a concrete convention explanation. The NIST carbon line table lists $193.0906\mathrm{nm}$ under vacuum wavelengths and $247.8561\mathrm{nm}$ under air wavelengths, reproducing the source's rounded numbers.^[ref] The second number must therefore be converted to a vacuum wavelength before using $E=hc/\lambda$. For the tabulated upper $61981.82\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^{-1}$ and lower $21648.02\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^{-1}$ energy levels, its vacuum wavelength is $247.931\mathrm{nm}$, corresponding to an air refractive index about $1.00030$. This removes the spurious $12\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^{-1}$ discrepancy. The first calculation alone, which correctly uses a vacuum wavelength, already gives the intended upper energy level to the accuracy of the rounded data. The independent upper value is $61981.82\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^{-1}$.^[ref]

In LS coupling, first add the individual orbital angular momenta and spins separately, then add their totals:The Coulomb interaction between electrons must separate different atomic terms more strongly than the spin-orbit interaction mixes them. Then $L,S,J,M_J$ are useful quantum numbers, with $J=|L-S|,\dots ,L+S$. This approximation is usually better for lighter chemical atoms and well-separated atomic terms; strong configuration interaction or strong spin-orbit coupling can spoil it. The term symbol is ${}^{2S+1}{L}_J$.

The general electric-dipole selection rules, for isolated chemical atoms with definite parity and total electronic angular momentum, are a change of parity, $\Delta J=0,\pm 1$ excluding $J=0\leftrightarrow 0$, and $\Delta M_J=0,\pm 1$, with the accessible magnetic sublevels determined by the light's polarization. In pure LS coupling, the additional selection rules are $\Delta S=0$ and $\Delta L=0,\pm 1$, excluding $L=0\leftrightarrow 0$. In a one-electron description the electric dipole operator also requires $\Delta l=\pm 1$ for the active electron. These latter statements can fail as exact labels when atomic terms mix; the general parity and total-angular momentum restrictions still apply. Unresolved hyperfine structure is neglected here.

For strontium, the closed core contributes $L=S=0$. The Pauli exclusion principle makes the two equivalent $5s$ electrons a singlet state. Different radial orbitals permit both a singlet state and a triplet state. Thus the complete lists of atomic fine-structure levels areThe $5s5p$ electron configuration has odd parity; the other two electron configurations have even parity.