Progress In Experimental And Theoretical Studies Of Clusters

The cluster which is an ensemble of two thousands of atoms or molecules, has emerged as a completely new class of materials at the frontier of materials science. The frontier of cluster science extends so rapidly that the map of the science is renewed day by day. In order to provide basic knowledge and recent information on this growing field, 14 world-renowned scientists who are actively involved experimentally and theoretically in cluster science have written this book, which is concise, comprehensive, suitable for students at both the undergraduate and the graduate level, as well as people who work outside cluster science. Contents: Survey of Structure, Energetics and Dynamics of Clusters (R S Berry & R D Levine); Molecular and Ionic Cluster Spectroscopy (J M Lisy); Physical and Chemical Properties of Metal Clusters in the Gas Phase and on Solid Surfaces (A Terasaki); Femtosecond Spectroscopy on Metal Clusters (a Vajda et al.); Core Level Excitation of Clusters (E Rhl); Laboratory Experiments on Single Levitated Aerosol Particles (T Leisner); Cluster Formation from Liquid Phase (F Mafun(r)). Readership: Researchers in atomic physics, molecular physics and physical chemistry."

The International Conference on Exotic Nuclei and Atomic Masses (ENAM) has gained the status of the premier meeting for the physics of nuclei far from stability. The selected and refereed papers presenting the main results constitute valuable proceedings that offer everyone working in this field an authoritative and comprehensive source of reference.

The first edition, by P.R. Bunker, published in 1979, remains the sole textbook that explains the use of the molecular symmetry group in understanding high resolution molecular spectra. Since 1979 there has been considerable progress in the field and a second edition is required; the original author has been joined in its writing by Per Jensen. 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.

Adventures in Chemical Physics continues to report recent advances with significant, up-to-date chapters by internationally recognized researchers from a variety of prestigious academic and professional institutions such as McGill University, the University of Pennsylvania, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Tel Aviv University, and the University of Chicago.

In previous volumes in this series, Advances in Metal and Semiconductor Clusters, the focus has been on atomic clusters of metals, semiconductors and carbon. Fundamental gas phase studies have been surveyed, and most recently scientists have explored new materials which can be produced from clusters or cluster precursors. In this latest volume, the focus shifts to clusters composed primarily of non-metal molecules or atoms which have one or more metal atoms seeded into the cluster as an impurity. These clusters provide model systems for metal ion solvation processes and metal-ligand interactions. Metal-ligand bonding underlies the vast fields of organometallic chemistry, transition metal chemistry and homogeneous catalysis. Catalytic activity, ligand displacement reactions and photochemical activity depend on the specific details of metal-ligand bonding. Likewise, metal ions are ubiquitous in chemistry and biology and weaker electrostatic interactions play a leading role in their function. In solution, metals exist in different charge states depending on the conditions, and the solvation environment strongly influences their chemistry. Many enzymes have metal ions at their active sites, and electrostatic interactions influence the selectivity for metal ion transport through cell membranes. Metal ions (e.g., Mg+, Ca+) are deposited into the earth's atmosphere by meteor ablation, resulting in a rich variety of atmospheric chemistry. Similarly, metal ions ( Mg+) have been observed in planetary atmospheres and in the impact of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter. In various circumstances, the electrostatic interactions of metal ions determine the outcome of significant chemistry. Cluster chemistry has made significant contributions to the understanding of these stronger metal ligand interactions and weaker metal ion solvation interactions. In this volume, the authors explore a variety of work in these general areas, where new cluster science techniques in the gas phase have made it possible to synthesize new kinds of complexes with metals and to measure their properties in detail.

This volume brings together selected contributed papers presented at the International Conference of Computational Methods in Science and Engineering (ICCMSE 2006), held in Chania, Greece, October 2006. The conference aims to bring together computational scientists from several disciplines in order to share methods and ideas. The ICCMSE is unique in its kind. It regroups original contributions from all fields of the traditional Sciences, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Medicine and all branches of Engineering. It would be perhaps more appropriate to define the ICCMSE as a conference on computational science and its applications to science and engineering. Topics of general interest are: Computational Mathematics, Theoretical Physics and Theoretical Chemistry. Computational Engineering and Mechanics, Computational Biology and Medicine, Computational Geosciences and Meteorology, Computational Economics and Finance, Scientific Computation. High Performance Computing, Parallel and Distributed Computing, Visualization, Problem Solving Environments, Numerical Algorithms, Modelling and Simulation of Complex System, Web-based Simulation and Computing, Grid-based Simulation and Computing, Fuzzy Logic, Hybrid Computational Methods, Data Mining, Information Retrieval and Virtual Reality, Reliable Computing, Image Processing, Computational Science and Education etc. More than 800 extended abstracts have been submitted for consideration for presentation in ICCMSE 2005. From these 500 have been selected after international peer review by at least two independent reviewers.

Synthesizing specific clusters as a component of useful nanostructures or controlling them as an assembly of nanocomposites is the ultimate aim. In order to understand how to synthesize individual clusters or to investigate its properties, a variety of first-principles and empirical calculations and related computer simulations have been performed alongside numerous experiments.