Date/Time
Date(s) - 28/01/2008
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Title: Nearsightedness of Electronic Matter

Speaker: Dr. Walter Kohn

Institute: University of California
Nobel Prize, Chemistry, 1998 (with Pople)

Location: MDCL 1309

Description:

Nearsightedness of Electronic Matter”(NEM)* is a general principle which can be viewed as underpinning such broad chemical concepts as the localized chemical bond and transferability, between two different multi-atomic systems, of common subsystems. Roughly speaking, and neglecting the Coulomb repulsion between the electrons, NEM addresses the question of the effect on the electronic structure near a point r of a distant potential perturbation, w(r’), especially the decrease of the effect as function of the distance d between r and r’.

A quantitative formulation and several illustrations for gapped and ungapped systems will be presented. The modifications of NEM due to the long-range Coulomb interactions between electrons will also be discussed.