A Closer Look at the Hydrogen Atom

Hydrogen is one of the most important and versatile chemical elements on Earth. It has the unique distinction of being the lightest element occupying the first place in the periodic table. It is also the most abundant chemical substance in the whole universe, accounting for nearly 75% of all normal matter. Stars, like the sun, are mostly constituted of hydrogen in the plasma state. While this has been known to us from the early days of quantum mechanics, over the years, attempts have been made to study its behavior in various physical and chemical situations. In the last few decades, considerable progress has been made in investigating the nature of H-atoms in external environments (in both experimental and theoretical domain). This book contains 14 chapters by leading experts presenting some of the latest, exciting developments in the area. The chapters cover mostly theoretical, computational, and conceptual issues. Therefore, purely experimental works are not included, while results for various quantities are provided mainly to assess the quality of theory and feasibility of the method in question.