This project in the Theoretical and Computational Chemistry Program will examine the effect of intermolecular interactions on properties of van der Waals complexes. Applications will also be made to solvent effects in condensed phase systems. In particular, new theoretical methods will be developed to describe changes in electronic transition frequencies and intensities due to environmental influences. The approach will be based on physical approximations similar to those that motivate the electron gas model of electronic ground state properties, and incorporates recent path-integral methods. Theoretical explanations will be sought for several experimentally observed general features of optical transitions in van der Waals molecules.
