This award will support collaborative research in physical chemistry between Dr. Glenn Evans, Oregon State University and two British scientists: Dr. Paul Madden, Oxford University and Dr. Michael Allen, University of Bristol. Dr. Evans will carry out research in two closely related areas involving the theory of structural and dynamic properties of molecular liquids. Molecules in a liquid phase undergo extremely frequent encounters and collision induced phenomena arise directly as a consequence of these encounters. In the first part of this collaborative study, Dr. Evans and Dr. Madden will address what type of molecular information is learned from the study of collision induced depolarized light scattering, vibrational energy transfer and infrared spectra. The second part of the collaborative study with Dr. Allen will deal with the way in which we envision the collisions to take place in liquids comprised of nonspherical molecules. The investigators will examine the question of whether the collisions are correlated or uncorrelated. That is, does a specific pair of molecules undergo frequent recollisions or does this pair once having collided never recollide? The answer to and the consequences of this question, which is also reflected in collision induced scattering, will be determined by the analysis of liquid properties, such as the viscosity, thermal conductivity, and rates of molecular rotation and translation. Analytical theory and computer simulation, together with experimental data, will be employed to interpret the findings. The project will benefit from the complementary expertise of the three investigators. Dr. Evans is one of a few world class theoreticians in the statistical mechanical treatment of fluids. Dr. Madden is an international leader in the interpretation of collision induced phenomena. Dr. Allen is an acknowledged expert in the simulation of properties of fluids of nonspherical bodies.
