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Physical Review Style and Notation Guide
Physical Review Style and Notation Guide
Published by
The American Physical Society
First Edition July 1983
Revised February 1993
Compiled and edited by Minor Revision June 2005
Anne Waldron, Peggy Judd, and Valerie Miller Minor Revision June 2011
Copyright 1993, by The American Physical Society
Permission is granted to quote from this journal with the customary acknowledgment of the source. To reprint a figure, table
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Physical Review Style and Notation Guide
Contents
I. INTRODUCTION 2
1 (March 8, 2012)
B. Abbreviations in math . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1. Abbreviations designating mathematical functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2. Abbreviations in subscripts and superscripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
C. Mathematical expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1. When to display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2. Punctuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3. Equation breaking (multilinear equations) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4. Equation numbering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
D. Bracketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1. Grouping sequence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2. Specific bracket notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3. Specialized notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
E. Additional style guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1. Placement of limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2. Fractions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3. Multiplication signs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4. Mathematical terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
This notation guide represents a compendium of gen- The received date indicates the date the manuscript
eral Physical Review style rules to help authors when was received by the scientific editor. This date will be
preparing a paper for submittal as a REVTEX com- verified by the editor and will appear in the printed ar-
puscript or a conventional manuscript. It is essential that ticle.
notation be consistent and standardized so that all pa-
pers can be processed efficiently.
This guide has been arranged so it can be used as a E. *Abstract
reference manual. Differences or exceptions for specific
journals may exist, and may be conveyed to the author by An abstract must accompany each manuscript. The
the appropriate journal editor. Authors should consult abstract should consist of one paragraph and be com-
the Information for Contributors section published in the pletely self-contained. It cannot contain numbered ref-
first issue of each volume of Physical Review. Some of the erences; incorporate such information into the abstract
journals may also have additional instructions for prepar- itself. Use this form:
ing manuscripts on specialized subjects, obtainable from
the editor. Further information is available [A. B. Smith, Phys. Rev. A
26, 107 (1982)].
II. STYLE INSTRUCTIONS FOR PARTS OF A Displayed equations and tabular material are discour-
MANUSCRIPT aged. Define all nonstandard symbols and abbreviations.
It is preferable to use only one form of your name as G. *Main body of the papersequential
an author in all of your publications. organization
APPENDIX
Level (4)
(single appendix, no titles),
(a) Third subheading. Text following a paragraph in-
dentation, first word capitalized, all italic, preceded by a
lowercase letter or number in parentheses. APPENDIX A
(c) How to list same author, J. M. Smith, Phys. Rev. B 24, 3 (1981); 26, 1 (1982).
same source, different volume
and page
(d) How to list same au- J. M. Smith, Phys. Rev. B 26, 1 (1982); 26, 6 (1982). [Note that both
thor, same source, same vol- page numbers are listed separately.]
ume number, same year, and
different page numbers
(e) How to list different authors J. M. Smith, Phys. Rev. B 26, 1 (1982); R. Brown, Heavy Ions (Aca-
and different sources demic, New York, 1982); C. Green, Ph.D. thesis, Brown University, 1980.
(f ) How to list different au- J. M. Smith, Phys. Rev. B 26, 1 (1982); R. Brown, ibid. 24, 3 (1981); C.
thors, same sources Green, ibid. 24, 22 (1981). [Note that ibid. is used instead of repeating
the journal name.]
(g) How to list multiple parts (a) J. M. Smith, Phys. Rev. B 26, 1 (1982); (b) R. Brown, Nucl. Phys.
in a single footnote A195, 1 (1982).
(i) Books J. M. Smith, Molecular Dynamics (Academic, New York, 1980), Vol. 2,
p. 20.
[published, use italic title; additional information (Vol., Chap., Sec., p.,
etc.) as appropriate]
J. M. Smith, in Molecular Dynamics, edited by C. Brown (Academic,
New York, 1980).
[published, use italic title; for edited works use form in and by]
J. M. Smith, Molecular Dynamics (Academic, New York, in press).
[in the process of being published, use italic title and the form in press]
(k) Reports J. M. Smith, Brookhaven National Laboratory Report No. 10, 1982
(unpublished).
[Most reports are considered to be unpublished. Those reports consid-
ered as full publications should be designated without the parenthetical
unpublished at the end of the reference.]
(l) Preprints (journal specific) J. M. Smith, Brookhaven National Laboratory Report No. 110, 1992 (to
be published).
(m) Theses J. M. Smith, Ph.D. thesis, Brown University, 1980.
TABLE I. (Continued).
TABLE X. Experimental results (Ref. [6]).
(E2/M 1) A one-page table (narrow, medium, or wide) may not
Theor.a Expt. exceed 25.4 cm or 10.0 in. in length or approximately
41.0 18 0.3b 63 lines. This overall length has to include the caption,
57.5 10 0.6 opening lines and spacing, headings, entries, closing lines
37.3 and spacing, and any footnote material connected to the
13.7 c table. If the total length exceeds this limit, the table may
a be treated in one of the following ways.
Reference [1].
b (1) A very long, narrow, one-column table can be split
Reference [2].
c and continued in a second column on the same page. It
Not available.
will require a wide caption, a duplicate set of headings,
and wide opening and closing lines.
K. Tables (2) A very long medium or wide table can be continued
on the next page or pages. In addition to its first-page
caption, headings, etc., it will need a duplicate set of
Tabular material of more than approximately four lines headings, lines, etc., for each additional continued page.
should not remain as part of the text. It should be treated It will also require a continued caption (see above) for
as a separate numbered table, complete with a descrip- each additional page of the table.
tive caption. All such tables must be cited in text and
are to be numbered consecutively in order of their ap-
pearance in text. Use roman numerals. The following 2. Captions
instructions and descriptions of components are included
here to assist you in the preparation of tables. Exam-
Each table that is not part of the text must have a de-
ination of some current issues of Physical Review will
scriptive caption. It should be as concise as possible. The
illustrate a wide variety of tables and will serve to clarify
caption can consist of an abbreviated sentence (without a
the instructions below.
beginning article and/or verb) punctuated as a complete
Extensive tabular material (and useful informa-
sentence. If it is made up of more than one sentence,
tion that is not essential to understanding an ar-
treat it as a single paragraph.
ticles main results) may be deposited as Sup-
The caption must begin with the word table, in capital
plemental Material. For more information, see
letters, followed by the appropriate roman numeral and
http://forms.aps.org/author/supmatinstr.pdf.
period, and then a small amount of explanatory text.
Displayed math is allowed within the caption, but the use
1. Sizes of short mathematical expressions in broken-down form
is preferred. Abbreviations and acronyms that pertain to
the whole table should be defined in the caption. Those
There are several standard types of tables. Each type already defined in text need not be defined again.
is determined by its width and/or length. Each type
requires captions, lines, and spacing, as well as headings
appropriate to its size. It is, therefore, necessary to first
estimate what the width and length of a table will be.
There are four standard one-page table widths:
(1) narrow (one column, 8.6 cm or 3.4 in.),
(2) medium (centered, 14 cm or 5.5 in.),
(3) wide (two columns, 17.8 cm or 7.0 in), and
@ j 1 2 Mode
i @
@
1 0.3601 103 0.5224 101 Stable
2 0.2691 104 0.5130 102 +
3 0.7733 104 0.1717103
Stable
In the body of a table, row headings have similar form.
They are read left to right with any units of measure
enclosed in parentheses and separated by one space on (3) Lineup by digit and/or decimal. To be used in a
the same line. To continue a row heading or indicate a situation where all or most of the entries are numbers.
row subheading, indent the second line. Align according to digit and/or decimal placement.
Form: Form:
5. Entry lineup
(4) Lineup by operator. To be used in a situation where
most entries are similar and have some kind of operator
The manner in which table entries are aligned in their
(multiplication, plus, minus signs, etc.) in common.
columns will greatly affect the readability of a table. For
this reason use one or a combination of the following Form:
types of alignments.
(1) Flush left. To be used in a situation where the
entries are not similar and/or of different lengths. All 1
entries are flush left with the column heading centered 0.4557 101
over the column. 0.2051 101
Form: 0.650 102
Give each figure a separate caption. Like a table cap- 1. Text and math as sentences
tion, it should be concise. It may be made up in part of
an abbreviated sentence or group of sentences in a single (1) Treat the text and mathematical formulas as an
paragraph. It must begin with FIG. (all capital letters), entity. Punctuate mathematical expressions as sentences
followed by the appropriate arabic numeral and period, or parts of sentences.
and then by the abbreviated explanatory sentence or sen- Form:
tences.
Form: A slight rearrangement of terms then gives
FIG. 1. Part of the fluorite structure around an oxygen va- (2) Avoid beginning a sentence with a symbol if the
cancy; , oxygen vacancy; , normal oxygen ion. sentence before it has ended with a symbol or number.
As the temperatures approached the melting temperature (1) Phrases introduced by a colon do not begin with a
Tm , all . . . capital letter.
Form:
As the temperatures approached the melting temperature Furthermore, the lake has a natural noise center source: a
reported by Green et al., Tm , all . . . dam.
(2) Please use the serial (Harvard) comma. See the (2) A complete sentence introduced by a colon may be,
example below, where the second comma is the serial but need not be, capitalized.
comma.
Form:
Form:
Finally, the energies of bound surface states are calculated
Symmetry requires that 1 = 2 , 3 = 4 , and 5 = 6 . by means of the effective-Hamiltonian technique: Let Heff
be defined by E Heff = G0 (E 1 V ).
(3) Place commas around etc., e.g., i.e., viz., namely,
for example, that is, say, in particular, and respectively.
Do not use commas around cf. or et al. Finally, the energies of bound surface states are calculated
(4) Nonrestrictive clauses should be introduced by by means of the effective-Hamiltonian technique: let Heff
which and set off by commas. be defined by E Heff = G0 (E 1 V ).
Form:
(3) When more than one sentence is introduced by a
The K = 1 component, which in this case does not influence colon capitalize the first word.
the band shape, gives rise to . . . Form:
(3) Square brackets enclose a phrase that already con- In technical writing the proper spelling and hyphen-
tains parentheses. ation of words is a controversial point of style. In general,
Form:
for nontechnical words refer to Websters New Interna-
tional Dictionary if a question of correct form arises. Use
Recall that the Brown-Green theory [see Eq. (2)] is still to
the first spelling if there is more than one correct version.
be . . . A list of general spelling and hyphenation rules follows.
(1) Use American, not British, spellings except in
proper names.
(2) When possible, use single, not double consonants
in forming endings (e.g., labeled not labelled). However,
For a list of available diacritics see Table III below. It When additional indices are needed, insert a comma or
is possible to make multilevel accents, but placing one thin space and keep the added indices on the same line,
sign above a symbol or letter and one below is often i.e.,
more clear. Restrict the number of oversymbols to two.
The underline can appear under any configuration. Some Mbk ,dp , r,s+1 , or r s+1 .
combinations may not be permitted by the journal editor.
Z 1 X
0 14
, , N2 , K exp[x2 (b2 + b1 )1/2 ].
0
tensor notation: g (z ); ;
sin[(x + a)], (sin x)/a, and
molecular ions: H2 + , O2
2 1/2
exp[x (bz + b1 ) ].
footnotes in tables: En a .
C. Mathematical expressions
2
|J|2
Hij = eKRij , (11)
Eg + 12 (Wc + Wv )
where
1
K= (i + j + k), (12)
a
Equations that are not displayed but appear in text (2) A principal equation and subordinate equations
may also need to be broken. Basically the same rules (those that define quantities or variables in that equa-
apply as when breaking displayed math. Breaking at an tion) may be numbered (1), (1a), and (1b), etc.
operator or sign of relation is best. The operator or sign (3) If an equation is a variant of a previous equation
of relation usually begins the next line of text: (it may be separated from the original equation by other
equations and/or by text), it may be numbered with the
.
. . and their respective displacement vectors are ai/2 same number as the original and a prime, double prime,
+ 2aj/2 and . . . etc., as appropriate (one prime means first variation, dou-
ble prime means second variation, etc.).
Products are broken with a multiplication sign: Equation numbers are placed flush with the right mar-
gin according to standard forms in examples (a)(f) be-
. . . keep m ' 4 MeV as before and choose (= 5.46 low:
103 ) at . . .
(a) One-line equation and number:
In addition, you may break in text at a solidus, leaving
the numerator and fraction bar on the top line. The de- a + b = 0. (1)
nominator will begin the continued line. See an example
below:
. . . the above current is proportional to T0 (1 , 3 )1/2 / (b) Broken equation and condition:
N2 (0) if the injection level Gng 1
2 remains . . .
a+b=c+d+e+f +g+h+i+j+k+l
+ m + n (a = 1). (1)
4. Equation numbering
(b) Use built-up fractions (instead of the slashed con- 4. Mathematical terms
figuration) if there are three or more simple fractions in
a formula:
The use of the following standard symbols is strongly
recommended.
" 2 #
1 Q c2e
HA (w) = + 2 d.
2 2 4d approximately equal
proportional to
(c) Using slashed fractions in subscripts, superscripts, tends to
and limits is preferred: asymptotically equal to
O( ) of the order
N 1/2 . A complex conjugate of A
A Hermitian conjugate of matrix A
(d) Use slashed or sized fractions in the numerators and A, AT transpose of matrix A
denominators of built-up fractions except where excessive k unit vector k/k
bracketing would obscure your meaning or slashing would
interfere with continuance of notation:
(/6)
+ = 0.
+ [( 1)/12]2
(a/b)/c
or
a/(b/c),
as appropriate.
Most journal names are abbreviated in the list of references that appears at the end of the manuscript. The following
list contains the names of many journals commonly cited in the physics research literature. Additional standard
abbreviation listings recommended for your use are Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index (CASSI) (American
Chemical Society, Washington, D.C.) and Abbreviations of the Names of Scientific Periodicals Reviewed in Mathe-
matical Reviews (American Mathematical Society, Providence, RI). Note that in the list below the standard journal
abbreviation is printed in boldface (Accounts of Chemical Research). Add periods to these abbreviated parts as
appropriate (Acc. Chem. Res.). Please note: Lately, many Russian journals have changed their names. Citations of
recent works should reflect these changes.