Atomic Clusters, INT, Seattle, WA, July - August, 1998

ATOMIC CLUSTERS


Program at the Institute for Nuclear Theory, June 29 - August 28, 1998


VISITORS LIST (almost complete)


Weekly seminar and visitor list

DYNAMICS OF CLUSTERS


Joint INT/ITAMP Workshop, July 6 - 8, 1998

The purpose of the INT program is bring together researchers from various disciplines (condensed matter, chemistry, nuclear physics...) who have common interests in atomic clusters - their properties and their theoretical description. The program will start with a three-day INT/ITAMP workshop, as a concentrated forum to examine the issues and guide the direction of the summer program. The program itself will provide an informal setting for researchers to interact over an extended time period. Ideally, this will foster collaborations that would not otherwise have occurred.

Attendance at the program and at the workshop is limited, but all researchers interested in the scientific themes, including graduate students, are invited to apply. Program participants receive office space, computer access and other office support at the INT, as well as financial support for their local expenses. For an application form, click here .

Program Organizers: Program Coordinator:
Nancy DRAGUN -
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DYNAMICS OF CLUSTERS


July 6 - July 8, 1998, INT/ITAMP Workshop

Workshop program

The enormous advances in experimental techniques for studying clusters creates a need for improved theory, both of understanding the experimental findings and for guiding future experiments. The workshop will be focussed on questions of cluster dynamics. The three days will be devoted to the structural, the electronic, and the electronic- structural aspects, respectively. A convenor has been designated to lead each day's discussion and organize the presentations on the topic. (Not all speakers have been confirmed so far.)
The workshop is sponsored jointly by the Institute for Nuclear Theory at University of Washington in Seattle, WA and the Institute for Theory of Atomic and Molecular Physics at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA.

Top - INT/ITAMP Workshop - Application - Local Information

Description of the Program

The physics of atomic clusters in interesting from many points of view. These systems bridge the domains of atomic and molecular physics on one side and condensed matter physics on the other. Their properties may be dominated by their large surface-to-volume ratio, giving a unique opportunity to study the interplay between surface and volume effects. They may exhibit a discrete spectroscopy because of their finite size.
Nuclei are also finite quantum systems with a discrete spectroscopy, and this common feature has brought many nuclear physicists into atomic cluster research. Phenomena that are familiar to nuclear physicists have reappeared under a new guise on the nanometer scale. Theoretical techniques that are well-known for problems on the femtometer scale have also shown value on the nanometer scale. We also feel that there may be cross-fertilization in the other direction. While much of nuclear phsyics is moving into the high-energy direction, the problem of ``the classical nucleus'' is still largely unsolved. The study of atomic clusters should give us much insight into at least some of the required technology; the availability of experiments on both metallic and atomic clusters should help us pin down many of the pertinent questions in an often cleaner environment than in the nucleus. For these reasons, we feel it is appropriate for the INT to hold a program on this subject.
We list some of the specific questions which have been under study, from the above point of view. This should be taken with a grain of salt, since we are making here a rather bold projection for problems which should be interesting to study in two years from now. In such a rapidly evolving field as atomic clusters this is rather chancy. This list is merely meant to illustrate the richness of the field and its tremendous potential.