Quantum number
notation for conserved quantities in physics and chemistry
In quantum physics and chemistry, quantum numbers are quantities that characterize the possible states of the system.
To fully specify the state of the electron in a hydrogen atom, four quantum numbers are needed. The traditional set of quantum numbers includes the principal, azimuthal, magnetic, and spin quantum numbers. To describe other systems, different quantum numbers are required. For subatomic particles, one needs to introduce new quantum numbers, such as the flavour of quarks, which have no classical correspondence.
Quantum numbers are closely related to eigenvalues of observables. When the corresponding observable commutes with the Hamiltonian of the system, the quantum number is said to be "good", and acts as a constant of motion in the quantum dynamics.
History
Electronic quantum numbers
In the era of the old quantum theory, starting from Max Planck's proposal of quanta in his model of blackbody radiation (1900) and Albert Einstein's adaptation of the concept to explain the photoelectric effect (1905), and until Erwin Schrödinger published his eigenfunction equation in 1926, the concept behind quantum numbers developed based on atomic spectroscopy and theories from classical mechanics with extra ad hoc constraints. Many results from atomic spectroscopy had been summarized in the Rydberg formula involving differences between two series of energies related by integer steps. The model of the atom, first proposed by Niels Bohr in 1913, relied on a single quantum number.
The public source identifies “Quantum number” as notation for conserved quantities in physics and chemistry. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Quantum, number and notation.
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This entry incorporates text from “Quantum number” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.