Primarily intended for postgraduate students and researchers in the fields of condensed matter science, chemical physics and material science, who plan to use the muon spin rotation, relaxation amd resonance (mSR) techniques, this book combines for the first time a detailed discussion of the physical information contained in the measured polarization functions with real-life examples taken from the literature.
It is divided in three main parts. The first part presents some typical results of the application of mSR and explains the basic principles involved. The second part is the core of this book. It presents a comprehensive discussion of the measured polarisation functions. In the third part we analyse in four chapters selected examples taken from the following fields: diffusion properties of muon and muonium, magnetism, superconductivity, and muonium centres in materials. The book is completed by an epilogue and eight appendices.

Conjugated polymers have important technological applications, including solar cells and light emitting displays. They are also active components in many important biological processes. In recent years there have been significant advances in our understanding of these systems, owing to both improved experimental measurements and the development of advanced computational techniques. The aim of this book is to describe and explain the electronic and optical properties of conjugated polymers. It focuses on the character and energetic ordering of the electronic states and relates these properties to experimental observations in real systems. A number of important optical and electronic processes in conjugated polymers are also described.

Brownian motion - the incessant motion of small particles suspended in a fluid - is an important topic in statistical physics and physical chemistry. This book studies its origin in molecular scale fluctuations, its description in terms of random process theory and also in terms of statistical mechanics. A number of new applications of these descriptions to physical and chemical processes, as well as statistical mechanical derivations and the mathematical background are discussed in detail. Graduate students, lecturers, and researchers in statistical physics and physical chemistry will find this an interesting and useful reference work.

This prestigious series provides the chemical physics field with a forum for critical, authoritative evaluations of advances in every area of the discipline. Volume 112 continues to report on recent advances through significant, up-to-date chapters by internationally recognized researchers.

This book provides a critical review of the equilibrium elastic properties of rubber, together with the kinetic-theory background. It is suitable for the non-specialist and the emphasis is on the physical reality embodied in the mathematical formulations. Polymer science had developed greatly since the second edition of this text in 1958, and the two main advances - the refinements of the network theory and associated thermodynamic analysis, and the development of the phenomenological or non-molecular approach to the subject - are both reflected in the structure of this third edition.

Ordinary foams such as the head of a glass of beer and more exotic ones such as solid metallic foams, raise many questions for the physicist and have attracted a substantial research community in recent years. The book describes the results of extensive experiments , computer simulations and theories in an authoritative yet formal style, making ample use of illustrations and photographs.

This book provides a comprehensive survey of modern molecular astrophysics. It includes an introduction to molecular spectroscopy and then addresses the main areas of current molecular astrophysics, including galaxy formation, star forming regions, mass loss from young as well as highly evolved stars and supernovae, starburst galaxies plus the tori and discs near the central engines of active galactic nuclei. All chapters have been written by invited authors who are acknowledged experts in their fields. The thorough editorial process has ensured a uniformly high standard of exposition and a coherent style. The book is unique in giving a detailed view of its wide-ranging subject. It will provide the standard introduction for research students in molecular astrophysics. The book will be read by research astronomers and astrophysicists who wish to broaden the basis of their knowledge or are moving their activities into this burgeoning field. It will enable chemists to learn the astrophysics most related to chemistry as well as instruct physicists about the molecular processes most important in astronomy.

This comprehensive and systematic text provides the polymer scientist and technologist with a firm grounding in the principles underlying the wide applications of block copolymers. The first text of its kind for over ten years, this informative book is essential to the polymer chemistry, physics and materials science researcher in industry and academia, and postgraduates in related fields.

The primer is intended to provide a good introduction for chemistry, physics and material science undergraduates to the science of surfaces. It incorporates both chemical thermodynamics and modern spectroscopic methods of analysing surfaces, and shows via worked examples and problems in the final chapter, how the physico-chemical concepts developed in earlier chapters may be applied in elucidating surface structure, reactivity and composition.

Winner of a 2005 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Book Award Molecular symmetry is an easily applied tool for understanding and predicting many of the properties of molecules. Traditionally, students are taught this subject using point groups derived from the equilibrium geometry of the molecule. Fundamentals of Molecular Symmetry shows how to set up symmetry groups for molecules using the more general idea of energy invariance. It is no more difficult than using molecular geometry and one obtains molecular symmetry groups. The book provides an introductory description of molecular spectroscopy and quantum mechanics as the foundation for understanding how molecular symmetry is defined and used. The approach taken gives a balanced account of using both point groups and molecular symmetry groups. Usually the point group is only useful for isolated, nonrotating molecules, executing small amplitude vibrations, with no tunneling, in isolated electronic states. However, for the chemical physicist or physical chemist who wishes to go beyond these limitations, the molecular symmetry group is almost always required.

This series provides the chemical physics field with a forum for critical, authoritative evaluations of advances in every area of the discipline. "Volume 145" in the series continues to report recent advances with significant, up-to-date chapters by internationally recognized researchers.

Nanostructured oxide materials - ultra-thin films, nanoparticles and other nanometer-scale objects - play prominent roles in many aspects of our every-day life, in nature and in technological applications, among which is the all-oxide electronics of tomorrow. Due to their reduced dimensions and dimensionality, they strongly interact with their environment: gaseous atmosphere, water or support. Their novel physical and chemical properties are the subject of this book, from both a fundamental and an applied perspective. Oxide Thin Films and Nanostructures reviews and illustrates the various methodologies for their growth, fabrication, experimental and theoretical characterization. The role of key parameters such as film thickness, nanoparticle size and support interactions in driving their fundamental properties is underlined. At the ultimate thickness limit, two-dimensional oxide materials are generated, whose functionalities and potential applications are described. The emerging field of cation mixing is mentioned, which opens new avenues for engineering many oxide properties, as witnessed by natural oxide nanomaterials such as clay minerals, which, beyond their role at the Earth's surface, are now widely used in a whole range of human activities. Oxide nanomaterials are involved in many interdisciplinary fields of advanced nanotechnologies. Catalysis, photocatalysis, solar energy materials, fuel cells, corrosion protection, and biotechnological applications are amongst the areas where they are making an impact. The book outlines prototypical examples. A cautious glimpse into future developments of scientific activity is finally ventured to round off the presentation.

Following an explosion of research on Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) ignited by demonstration of the effect by 2001 Nobel prize winners Cornell, Wieman and Ketterle, this book surveys the field of BEC studies. Written by experts in the field, it focuses on Bose-Einstein condensation as a universal phenomenon, covering topics such as cold atoms, magnetic and optical condensates in solids, liquid helium and field theory. Summarising general theoretical concepts and the research to date - including novel experimental realisations in previously inaccessible systems and their theoretical interpretation - it is an excellent resource for researchers and students in theoretical and experimental physics who wish to learn of the general themes of BEC in different subfields.

`Non-equilibrium Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics: Foundations and Applications' builds from basic principles to advanced techniques, and covers the major phenomena, methods, and results of time-dependent systems. It is a pedagogic introduction, a comprehensive reference manual, and an original research monograph. Uniquely, the book treats time-dependent systems by close analogy with their static counterparts, with most of the familiar results of equilibrium thermodynamics and statistical mechanics being generalized and applied to the non-equilibrium case. The book is notable for its unified treatment of thermodynamics, hydrodynamics, stochastic processes, and statistical mechanics, for its self-contained, coherent derivation of a variety of non-equilibrium theorems, and for its quantitative tests against experimental measurements and computer simulations. Systems that evolve in time are more common than static systems, and yet until recently they lacked any over-arching theory. 'Non-equilibrium Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics' is unique in its unified presentation of the theory of non-equilibrium systems, which has now reached the stage of quantitative experimental and computational verification. The novel perspective and deep understanding that this book brings offers the opportunity for new direction and growth in the study of time-dependent phenomena. 'Non-equilibrium Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics' is an invaluable reference manual for experts already working in the field. Research scientists from different disciplines will find the overview of time-dependent systems stimulating and thought-provoking. Lecturers in physics and chemistry will be excited by many fresh ideas and topics, insightful explanations, and new approaches. Graduate students will benefit from its lucid reasoning and its coherent approach, as well as from the chem12physof mathematical techniques, derivations, and computer algorithms.

The crystallization of proteins and nucleic acids and/or their complexes has become more highly automated but is still often a trial and error based approach. In parallel, a number of X-ray diffraction based techniques have been developed which explain the physical reasons limiting the resulting crystallographic data and thus show how that data may be improved. Crystal growth is also pivotal in neutron crystallography, which establishes the hydrogen and hydration aspects. Thus this book is aimed at addressing the science behind obtaining the best and most complete structural data possible for biological macromolecules, so that the detailed structural biology and chemistry of these important molecules emerge. Crystal imperfections such as twinning and lattice disorders, as well as multiple crystal situations, and their possible remedies, are also described. The small crystal frontier in micro-crystal crystallography, crystallites in powders and finally down to the proposed single molecule structure determination of X-ray lasers are covered. Overall this interdisciplinary book will interest crystal growers, X-ray and neutron physicists and the biological crystallographers, including graduate students.

Presenting the quantum mechanical theory of pressure broadening and its application in atmospheric science, this is a unique treatment of the topic and a useful resource for researchers and professionals alike. Rayer proceeds from molecular processes to broad scale atmospheric physics to bring together both sides of the problem of remote sensing. Explanations of the relationship between a series of increasingly general theoretical papers are provided and all key expressions are fully derived to provide a firm understanding of assumptions made as the subject evolved. This book will help the atmospheric physicist to cross into the quantum world and appreciate the more theoretical aspects of line shape and its importance to their own work.

There exists a wide variety of patterns in nature, from inert matter such as crystalline dendrites and flames, to filamentous fungi and neurones in the living world. Their structural evolution during growth can be theoretically modeled in order to predict the shape of their forms, their dimensions and their growth rate. New Visions on Growth and Form aims at answering such questions by employing different theoretical approaches and providing a critical appraisal.
The book is part of the wide field of non-equilibrium statistical physics, and explores different mechanisms such as transport, interfacial tension, and chemical reactions, which govern the growth of a material. It explains the fundamental equations relating different morphological quantities, as well as the relevant experimental control parameters. From the unifying concepts arising in the theoretical approach the author proposes a tentative description of cell morphogenesis as a further application of the theory.

The purpose of this book is to explain the basic physical principles underlying the use of supercritical fluids. Excessive detail is avoided and experimental examples are used sparingly to illustrate the principles, so that the basic principles are clear. Some of the topics are not presently covered in other books or in the literature. The first half of the book covers the very basic topics and in the second half these are applied to separation methods and chemical reactions.

The Advances in Chemical Physics series presents the cutting edge in every area of the discipline and provides the field with a forum for critical, authoritative evaluations of advances. It provides an editorial framework that makes each volume an excellent supplement to advanced graduate classes, with contributions from experts around the world and a handy glossary for easy reference on new terminology. This series is a wonderful guide for students and professionals in chemical physics and physical chemistry, from academia, government, and industries including chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and polymers.

It is difficult to imagine how our highly evolved technological society would function, or how life would even exist on our planet, if polymers did not exist. The intensive study of polymeric systems, which has been under way for several decades, has recently yielded new insights into the properties of assemblies of these complex molecules and the physical principles that govern their behavior. These developments have included new concepts to describe aspects of the many body behavior in these systems, microscopic analyses that bring our understanding of these systems much closer to our understanding of simple liquids and solids, and the discovery of novel chemistry that these molecules can catalyze.
This special topic volume of Advances in Chemical Physics surveys a number of these recent accomplishments. Supplemented with more than 250 illustrations, it provides a significant, up-to-date selection of papers by inter-nationally recognized researchers.
Topics include:
* Theory of Polyelectrolyte Solutions
* Star Polymers: Experiment, Theory, and Simulation
* Tethered Polymer Layers
* Living Polymers
* Transport and Kinetics in Electroactive Polymers
Self-contained, authoritative, and timely, Polymeric Systems makes the cutting edge of polymer research available to scientists in every branch of chemical physics.
Contributors to POLYMERIC SYSTEMS
JEAN-LOUIS BARRAT, DA(c)partement de Physique des MatA(c)riaux, UniversitA(c) Claude Bernard-Lyon l, France
A. BAUMGARTNER, Institut fA1/4r FestkArperforschung, Germany
M. A. CARIGNANO, Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
LEWIS J. FETTERS, CorporateResearch Science Laboratories, Exxon Research and Engineering Company, Annandale, New Jersey
SANDRA C. GREER, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Maryland at College Park
GARY S. GREST, Corporate Research Science Laboratories, Exxon Research and Engineering Company, Annandale, New Jersey
JOHN S. HUANG, Corporate Research Science Laboratories, Exxon Research and Engineering Company, Annandale, New Jersey
JEAN-FRANAOIS JOANNY, Institut Charles Sadron, France
MICHAEL E. G. LYONS, Electroactive Polymer Research Group, Physical Chemistry Laboratory, University of Dublin, Ireland
M. MUTHUKUMAR, Department of Polymer Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts
DIETER RICHTER, Institut fA1/4r FestkArperforschung, Germany
I. SZLEIFER, Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana

This series provides the chemical physics field with a forum for critical, authoritative evaluations of advances in every area of the discipline.

Over the past few decades, experimental excited state chemistry has moved into the femtochemistry era, where time resolution is short enough to resolve nuclear dynamics. Recently, the time resolution has moved into the attosecond domain, where electronic motion can be resolved as well. Theoretical chemistry is becoming an essential partner in such experimental investigations; not only for the interpretation of the results, but also to suggest new experiments. This book provides an integrated approach. The three main facets of excited-state theoretical chemistry; namely, mechanism, which focuses on the shape of the potential surface along the reaction path, multi-state electronic structure methods, and non-adiabatic dynamics, have been brought together into one volume. Theoretical Chemistry for Electronic Excited States is aimed at both theorists and experimentalists, involved in theoretical chemistry, in electronic structure computations and in molecular dynamics. The book will provide both with the knowledge and understanding to discover ways to work together more closely through its unified approach.

This book provides an introduction to optical multidimensional coherent spectroscopy, a relatively new method of studying materials based on using ultrashort light pulses to perform spectroscopy. The technique has been developed and perfected over the last 25 years, resulting in multiple experimental approaches and applications to a broad array of systems ranging from atoms and molecules to solids and biological systems. Indeed, while this method is most often used by physical chemists, it is also relevant to materials of interest to physicists, which is the primary focus of this book. As well as an introduction to the method, the book also provides tutorials on the interpretation of the rather complex spectra that is broadly applicable across all subfields, and finishes with a survey of several emerging material systems and a discussion of future directions.

Recent advances from internationally recognized researchers

Advances in Chemical Physics is the only series of volumes available to represent the cutting edge of research in the discipline. It creates a forum for critical, authoritative evaluations of advances in every area of the chemical physics field. Volume 128 continues to report recent developments with significant, up-to-date chapters by internationally recognized researchers. Volume 128 includes: "Nucleation in Polymer Crystallization," by M. Muthukumar; "Theory of Constrained Brownian Motion," by David C. Morse; "Superparamagnetism and Spin-glass Dynamics of Interacting Magnetic Nanoparticle Systems," by Petra E. Jönnson; "Wavepacket Theory of Photodissociation and Reactive Scattering," by Gabriel G. Balint-Kurti; and "The Momentum Density Perspective of the Electronic Structure of Atoms and Molecules," by Ajit J. Thakkar. Students and professionals in chemical physics and physical chemistry, as well as those working in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and polymer industries, will find Advances in Chemical Physics, Volume 128 to be an indispensable survey of the field.

This book provides a practical guide to molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulation techniques used in the modelling of simple and complex liquids. Computer simulation is an essential tool in studying the chemistry and physics of condensed matter, complementing and reinforcing both experiment and theory. Simulations provide detailed information about structure and dynamics, essential to understand the many fluid systems that play a key role in our daily lives: polymers, gels, colloidal suspensions, liquid crystals, biological membranes, and glasses. The second edition of this pioneering book aims to explain how simulation programs work, how to use them, and how to interpret the results, with examples of the latest research in this rapidly evolving field. Accompanying programs in Fortran and Python provide practical, hands-on, illustrations of the ideas in the text.