Future Directions in Atomic Physics Inspired by the Pioneering Work of Charlotte Froese Fischer and Ian Philip Grant

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue invites contributions from friends, students, postdocs, and collaborators of Charlotte Froese Fischer and Ian Philip Grant, the world-leading researchers in theoretical atomic physics and the pioneering authors of widely used computer programs, including the non-relativistic multi-configuration Hartree–Fock code ATSP (ATomic Structure Program), and the relativistic multi-configuration Dirac–Hartree–Fock program GRASP (General-purpose Relativistic Atomic Structure Program).

Also welcome are contributions (original articles as well as reviews) from users of these and other computer programs, as well as from authors and developers of various ab initio methods, computer programs, computation approaches, and calculations in the theoretical description of atomic structures, as well as investigations of continuum processes in atomic physics.

The focus of this Special Issue is on the effects of relativity and electron correlations in electronic structures of atoms and ions that are at the forefront of contemporary atomic physics.

This Special Issue aims to collect papers that focus on the development of ab initio methods, current advancements in ab initio calculations, and applications of the theory of complex atoms in the field of atomic physics. In recent years, many novel ab initio techniques have been developed to improve these calculations, which in turn extended the range of applications and improved support of theoretical and experimental studies in a wide number of fields, from fundamental physics, nuclear physics, plasma physics, astrophysics, to energy research.

Many of these scientific advances represent the legacy of Charlotte and Ian, who have inspired, guided, and advised us over the last half-century. They initiated, coordinated, and supervised many joint projects, most importantly, the projects involving the development of computer codes for the study of atomic properties. Charlotte and Ian will be dearly missed by all of us.

Dr. Ran Si
Dr. Harry Quiney
Dr. Jacek Bieroń
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Atoms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• theoretical atomic physics
• electronic structure of atoms
• electron correlation
• atomic structure calculations
• variational methods
• multi-configuration Hartree–Fock
• multi-configuration Dirac–Hartree–Fock
• Dirac theory
• GRASP
• ATSP
• perturbation methods
• light, medium, heavy, and superheavy atoms and ions
• complex atoms
• atomic spectra
• transition probabilities
• isotope shift
• hyperfine structure
• continuum
• electron collisions with atoms and ions
• applications of atomic physics