This textbook explains the use of the molecular symmetry group in understanding high resolution molecular spectroscopy. The material of the first edition has been reorganized and much has been added. The molecular symmetry group is now introduced early on, and the explanation of how to determine nuclear spin statistical weights has been consolidated in one chapter, after groups, symmetry groups, character tables and the Hamiltonian have been introduced. A description of the symmetry in the three-dimensional rotation group K(spatial), irreducible spherical tensor operators, and vector coupling coefficients is now included. The chapters on energy levels and selection rules contain a great deal of material that was not in the first edition (much of it was undiscovered in 1979), concerning the Jahn-Teller effect, the Renner effect, Multichannel Quantum Defect Theory, the use of variational methods for calculating rotational-vibration energy levels, and the contact transformed rotation-vibration Hamiltonian. A new chapter is devoted entirely to weakly bound cluster molecules (often called Van der Waals molecules). A selection of experimental spectra is included in order to illustrate particular theoretical points. NOTE: For the e-book edition, the Corrections and Updates listed in Appendix C of the 2006 second printing have been directly incorporated into the text. Phase factor errors in Eq. (16-27) have also been corrected.
