3.

8 The f 2 Configuration 113

the r3 doublet is non-magnetic. It can be, however, verified that it is

quadrupolar doublet. We return to this question in Sec. 3.10.
Let us first focus on the case of PrSb. Alone the fact that the
ground state is a singlet tells us that its magnetic moment must be zero
(if it were not, the timereversed state would have the same energy and
the ground state should be degenerate). Previously we were making
comments about the quenching of the orbital momentum of &electrons,
which, however, did not affect the spin momentum. Here we have a more
drastic effect: the total angular momentum can be quenched, even in a
cubic field! Clearly, whenever such an effect occurs, it can be ascribed
to the spin-orbit coupling which transmits the effect of the crystal field
from the directly affected orbital momentum to the spin momentum.
The quenching of J (as observed in the magnetic behaviour) is not in
contradiction with the ground state having the total angular momentum
J required by Hund's rules: all the crystal-field-split states are eigen-
states of J2 with the eigenvalue 4(4+1)=20. To see this more clearly, let
us construct the singlet ground state which, according to (3.53), must
be a basis state for the identity representation rl.
The transformation properties of the 3H4 multiplet are the same as
those of the I = 4 spherical harmonics Y4". We quote from App. A

y40 = pp41r 64
+
35z4 - 30z2r2 3r4
r4
(3.54)

The z-axisis a C4-axis.

The above states are invariant under the C2-rotations. A &-rotation
about the z-axis has the effect x + y, y + -2, z + z. This transfor-
mation also leaves (3.54) invariant. Since no other of the functions Y4"
has this property, we can seek the basis state in the form

(3.55)

Demanding that Irl) is invariant under the C3-rotation which effects

z + y + z -+ x, we find a/@ = m. We could now write down the
rl-type state in terms of the spherical harmonics Y4". What we need,