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A coupling approximation in which individual orbital angular momenta combine to total , individual spins to total , and then and combine to total .
wp-physics-ls_couplingnist-atomic-spectroscopyEach relation below ends at this concept.
This is an authored directed relation from the source endpoint to the target endpoint.
Clebsch–Gordan coefficients transform between uncoupled orbital-and-spin product states and states of definite total angular momentum used in LS coupling.
A mathematical concept supplies part of the formal language, state space, representation, or analytic machinery used by a scientific or mathematical-physics concept. The source is the mathematical predecessor; this does not claim that physical content follows from mathematics alone.
wp-clebsch_gordan_coefficientnlab-clebsch_gordan_coefficientpdg-2026-mathematical-toolsnist-atomic-spectroscopynist-atomic-statesThis is an authored directed relation from the source endpoint to the target endpoint.
LS coupling is useful when electrostatic interactions dominate individual spin–orbit couplings in a many-electron atom.
The target is a model, idealization, restricted ansatz, approximation scheme, phenomenological fit, or historical representation used for the source system or theory. It need not have a universal small error parameter and is not thereby a controlled limit or effective theory. The edge label and detail must identify the precise status.
wp-physics-ls_couplingnist-atomic-spectroscopyEach relation below starts at this concept.
This is an authored directed relation from the source endpoint to the target endpoint.
LS-coupled states are labeled by term symbols .
The target represents a state, property, observable, or state-dependent description associated with the source system or theory.
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