In this project in the Theoretical and Computational Chemistry program of the Chemistry Division, Professor Harris will develop new methodologies for studying weakly interacting molecules, for examining the behavior of matter in strong magnetic fields, and for investigating the interaction of polarized light with clusters of atoms. A new method for determining the correlation energies of inhomogeneous electron gases will be used to determine the Van der Waals energies of interacting closed shell systems. A density functional theory of matter in strong magnetic fields will be developed, and the manner in which polarized light scattering may be used to give information about clusters of atoms in given quantum states will be examined. A new method for determining ground and excited state properties of many-electron systems will also be investigated.
