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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Semiclassical Methods for the Description of Large Metal Clusters

subject

description

One of the most fascinating aspects of clusters is that they can be made arbitrarily large and therefore provide links between the microscopic and the macroscopic world. It is challenging to study how their physical properties change when going from atoms and small molecules to the bulk limit of condensed matter. But also the models and mathematical tools themselves, which are used in order to tackle the many-body problem, are an object of study for the theoretician. In particular, the question of how far quantum-mechanics must be carried with increasing size and where classical pictures become appropriate is of great interest. In this spirit, we discuss here some semiclassical methods for the description of electronic properties of metal clusters, which become appropriate and useful for very large systems where fully microscopic descriptions are too time consuming or even impossible.