Energy Landscapes

The study of energy landscapes holds the key to resolving some of the most important contemporary problems in chemical physics. Many groups are now attempting to understand the properties of clusters, glasses and proteins in terms of the underlying potential energy surface. The aim of this book is to define and unify the field of energy landscapes in a reasonably self-contained exposition. This is the first book to cover this active field. The book begins with an overview of each area in an attempt to make the subject matter accessible to workers in different disciplines. The basic theoretical groundwork for describing and exploring energy landscapes is then introduced followed by applications to clusters, biomolecules and glasses in the final chapters. Beautifully illustrated in full colour throughout, this book is aimed at graduate students and workers in the field.

ISBN 0521814154   Volumes 1 ISBN13 9780521814157 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 1527 Publisher Cambridge University Press   Published in Cambridge Imprint Cambridge University Press   Series editor Saykally, Richard (University of California, Berkeley), Zewail, Ahmed (California Institute of Techn Format Hardback   Series title Cambridge Molecular Science S. Publication date 22 Jan 2004   Previous ISBN 9780521891141 Library of Congress QD462.6.P64 W35 2003   Height (mm) 247 DEWEY 541.2   Width (mm) 174 DEWEY edition DC21   Spine width (mm) 38 Pages 692   Academic level Professional / Scholarly, Tertiary education

		Preface
1		Introduction		1
2		The Born-Oppenheimer approximation and normal modes		119
3		Symmetry considerations		161
4		Features of the landscape		192
5		Describing the landscape		241
6		Exploring the landscape		283
7		Properties of the landscape		364
8		Clusters		434
9		Biomolecules		530
10		Glasses and supercooled liquids		592
App. A		Sylvester's law of inertia		663
App. B		Derivation of [Omega](E, P, L)		665
		Index		671

'This beautifully illustrated book provides a detailed background and description of energy landscapes and gives many examples of how they can be used to explain the properties of atomic and molecular clusters, biomolecules, glasses, and supercooled liquids ... Energy Landscapes provides a pictorial language that simplifies complicated calculations to a form that can be understood and used by many scientists interested in molecular problems, from undergraduates to those at the frontier of research.' Science Magazine 'Since this is the first book published in this very active field, it should serve as a reference source for a long time, and will be a very valuable resource for young scientists to become acquainted with the study of the PES of complex systems.' Angewandte Chemie '... the energy landscape community ... owes a great debt to Dr Wales for producing a detailed yet eminently readable book that will serve as the standard reference for many years to come ... the author is to be recommended for tackling this important and vase area and for presenting it in a lucid and unified picture. The author's clear and gentle style make the book accessible to undergraduates, while the depth of coverage and the insights that are generously sprinkled throughout the book will make it invaluable to researchers in the field ... On many occasions I found myself picking up the book just for random browsing and the sheer enjoyment of the clear discussion and beautiful presentation.' Physics in Canada ' ... Wales' book defines a whole new subject, even more - a whole new field, and at the same time presents its state of the art description ... a superb and laudable achievement, and I believe it will represent a resource on the subject of PES for years to come ... I can certainly recommend it as an exhaustive guide and treasure trove of resources in the fascinating worlds of PES ... a first class achievement ... in many respects a beautiful, well conceived and most informative book. It moves elegantly and engagingly through various fields of theoretical physics, physical chemistry and molecular biology to expose and explain the unifying workings of the potential energy surfaces and along the way finds an elegant and meaningful connection, on a most fundamental level, between the worlds of nano and bioscience in a way hardly attempted before.' Journal of Statistical Physics

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