U.S.-France Cooperative Research: Toward a Microscopic Description of Friction in Liquids

该奖项将支持洛杉矶加州大学Daniel Kivelson博士和法国巴黎皮埃尔和玛丽居里大学Gilles Tarjus博士在物理化学领域的合作研究。该项目的目标是发展液体摩擦的微观描述。研究人员正在研究液体中分子的运动，特别强调化学反应过程中反应基团穿越激活障壁的运动。在液体中，周围的流体不仅在改变活化能方面起着重要作用，而且在决定所有分子运动时也是摩擦的来源。本项目将重点研究这种摩擦效应。由于摩擦是一个宏观概念，他们将寻求理解在什么条件下它可以有效和有用地应用于描述分子水平的动力学。他们还将探索如何扩展摩擦概念，如果需要的话，给出一个更好的微观描述，可以产生对液体溶液化学动力学的见解。他们的方法将是理论和计算。这项研究的结果将有助于理解液体中的摩擦效应，特别是与化学反应有关的摩擦效应。在分子水平上理解化学动力学是化学中最基本的问题之一。Kivelson博士多年来一直是研究液体分子运动，特别是旋转运动领域的领导者，他将受益于Tarjus博士在拟议研究中的互补专业知识。

This award will support collaborative research in physical chemistry between Dr. Daniel Kivelson, University of California at Los Angeles and Dr. Gilles Tarjus, University of Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris, France. The objective of the project is to develop a microscopic description of friction in liquids. The investigators are studying the motions of molecules in liquids, with particular emphasis on the motion of a reacting group traversing an activation barrier during a chemical reaction. In liquids the surrounding fluid plays an important role, not only in altering the activation energy, but also as a source of friction in determining all molecular motions. The project will focus on this frictional effect. Since friction is a macroscopic concept, they will seek to understand under what conditions it can validly and usefully be applied in describing dynamics at the molecular level. They will also explore how the frictional concept, extended if needed, to give a better microscopic description, can yield insights into chemical kinetics in liquid solution. Their approach will be both theoretical and computational. The results of this research should contribute to the understanding of frictional effects in liquids, particularly those connected with chemical reactions. Understanding chemical kinetics on a molecular level is one of the most fundamental problems in chemistry. Dr. Kivelson has been a leader in the area of studying molecular motions in liquids, particularly rotational motions, for many years, and he will benefit from the complementary expertise of Dr. Tarjus in the proposed research.