The
most interesting solids and molecules are mesoscopically functional ones,
i.e., those that do something on the scale of individual molecules, up to
a few dozen charges or spins, or domains of less than a thousand atoms in
a solid. What they do can be either physical - correlated properties such
as transformation or the conduction of spins or Cooper pairs - or chemical
- such as the conduction of ions, the catalysis of coupled or multi-step
chemical reactions, and communication and regulation. What many of these
systems have in common is that not only are they statically complex in terms
of their compositions and structures on the nanoscale, but also dynamically
complex, exhibiting multiple, coexisting conformations or arrangements of
atoms on this same length scale. This conference will address the fundamental
questions posed by these functional systems in condensed matter, chemistry,
and biology, and the coupling of these properties with the intrinsic, mesoscale,
dynamic heterogeneity of these systems and its origin in a modifiable local
energy landscape with multiple local minima. The emphasis will not be on
complexity per se, but rather on actual examples of materials that exhibit
these characteristics, including correlated and transformational crystalline
solids, mixed valence oxides, alloys and solid solutions, catalysts, polymers
and other soft materials and molecular compounds, proteins and nucleic acids,
actinides and other f electron systems, semiconductors and photoexcited
transformational compounds, ionic conductors, biomolecular assemblies, and
fabricated heterostructures. The multidisciplinary aspects of this meeting
not only reflect the significance of its topic, but also provide a means
whereby conceptual advances in particular fields can be transferred to those
that are in a less advanced state of development.
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