CONEXS: COllaborative NEtwork for X-ray Spectroscopy

科学突破与技术发展密切相关，这使得对物质的测量变得更加详细。一个最好的例子是飞秒激光的发展，它开辟了超快光谱学的领域。这对我们对化学反应、生物功能和材料中的相变的理解产生了巨大的影响，因为它们能够实时探测这些不同类型系统中的核运动。随着能够提供高亮度超短X射线脉冲的工具的出现，X射线科学正在进行一场现代革命。通过钻石光源，英国对欧洲X-FEL和世界领先的研究小组的投资走在了这些实验努力的前沿。至关重要的是，X射线光谱观测数据的复杂性和高信息量意味着实验和理论之间需要很强的协同性。然而，尽管新的理论方法得到了发展，但高水平方法的开发仍然相对少见，导致实验的全部潜力没有实现。这一现状是不可接受的，克服它是X射线光谱学合作网络(CONEXS)的主要目标之一，它将把在这一领域工作的实验者和理论家聚集在一起，以达到新的理解水平。从计算界的角度来看，与实验者的直接接触可以突出理论挑战，并充当新方法开发的催化剂。从实验界来看，与理论家的直接接触将提供新理论发展方面的专业知识，为数据分析提供新的机会。

Scientific breakthroughs are strongly associated with technological developments, which enable the measurement of matter to an increased level of detail. A prime example of this is the development of femtosecond lasers, which opened up the field of ultrafast spectroscopy. This had a huge impact on our understanding of chemical reactions, biological functions and phase transitions in materials owing to their ability to probe, in real-time, the nuclear motion within these different types of systems. A modern revolution is underway in X-ray science with the emergence of tools capable of delivering high-brilliance ultrashort pulses of X-rays. The UK, through the Diamond Light source, investment into the European X-FEL and world-leading research groups are at the forefront of these experimental endeavors. Crucially, the complicated nature and high information context of X-ray spectroscopic observables means that a strong synergy between experiment and theory is required. However, despite the development of new theoretical methods, the exploitation of the high level methods remains relatively uncommon resulting in the full potential of the experiments not being realised. This status-quo is unacceptable, and overcoming it is one of the primary objectives of the COllaborative NEtwork for X-ray Spectroscopy (CONEXS), which will bring together experimentalists and theoreticians working in this area to achieve new levels of understanding. From the perspective of the computational community, direct engagement with experimentalists can highlight theoretical challenges and act as a catalyst for the development of new methods. From the experimental community, direct engagement with theoreticians will provide expertise in the new theoretical developments providing new opportunities for data analysis.