Multiplicity (chemistry)

In spectroscopy and quantum chemistry, the multiplicity of an energy level is defined as 2S+1, where S is the total spin angular momentum. The multiplicity is often equal to the number of possible orientations of the total spin relative to the total orbital angular momentum L, and therefore to the number of near–degenerate levels that differ only in their spin–orbit interaction energy. States with multiplicity 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 are respectively called singlets, doublets, triplets, quartets and quintets.