Large Clusters of Atoms and Molecules: (313 NATO Science Series E:)

The 6th course of the futernational School of Solid State Physics was held in Erice, Sicily, at the Ettore Majorana Centre for Scientific Culture, 19-29 June, 1995. The course was organized as a NATO Advanced Study Institute and received generous support from NATO's Nanoscale Science Program. This volume is based on the lectures presented during the course. fudispensable for the planning of the summer school was the support of the Director of the Ettore Majorana Centre, Professor A. Zichichi. We wish to express our sincere appreciation to the center staff, Dr. Maria Zaini, Dr. Alberto Gabriele, Dr. Pinola Savalli and Dr. Jerry Pilarski for their expert assistance in all organizational matters. A special word of thanks must go to the director of the International School of Solid State Physics, Professor Giorgio Benedek, not only for his valuable advice in the planning stage, but also for his active participation in the program itself. I would like to thank my coworkers, Stefan Frank, Nikola Malinowski, Renee Stotz, Frank Tast and Kristin Wirth for their valuable assistance in preparing these proceedings of the meeting. The success of a school is, in the last analysis, determined by the inter- est and commitment of the lecturers and participants. I am very grateful to the lecturers for their carefully prepared formal presentations, to the par- ticipants for their contributions to the spontaneous evening "workshops", and to all for their inexhaustible enthusiasm.

Table of Contents:
I. Shells and Supershells.- Semiclassical Methods for the Description of Large Metal Clusters.- Effects of the Surface and Finite Temperature on the Electronic Structure of Metal Clusters.- Electronic Shells and Supershells in Gallium and Aluminum Clusters.- Electronic Shells in Large Quantum Dots.- Electron Shell Structure and Cluster Abundances.- Shell-Correction Methods for Clusters: Theory and Applications.- Thermodynamics and Decay of Liquid Alkali Clusters.- II. Structure and Dynamics.- Convergence of Cluster Properties Towards Bulk Behavior: How Large is Large?.- Theoretical Predictions of Structure and Thermodynamics in the Large Cluster Regime.- Phases and Phase Changes of Clusters.- Topographies and Dynamics of Many-Dimensional Potential Surfaces.- Photofragmentation of Hot Clusters: Evaporation, Fission, and Photofragmentation Spectroscopy.- Structure and Properties of Metal Clusters and Colloids in Ligand Shells.- Dynamics of Cluster Reactions and Ionization: From Semiconductor to Hydrogen-Bonded/van der Waals Systems.- III. Carbon Clusters.- The Growth and the Death of Carbon Fullerenes and Nanotubes.- Lessons of a Discovery: Fullerenes and Other Clusters in Chemistry.- Carbon Nanotubes and Aligned Carbon Nanotube Films.- IV. Experimental and Theoretical Techniques.- Impacting Clusters.- Manipulation of Atoms and Clusters by STM.- Optical Properties of Free and Embedded Metal Clusters: Recent Results.- Large Scale Simulations using Tight Binding Molecular Dynamics.- Characterization of a Source of Large Clusters.