In this volume we have collected some of the contributions made to the Twelfth European Workshop on Quantum Systems in Chemistry and Physics (QSCP-XII) in 2007. The workshop was held at Royal Holloway College, the most westerly campusof the University of London,and situated just a stone’s throw from Windsor Great Park. The workshop, which ran from 30 August to 5 September, continued the series that was established by Roy McWeeny in April 1996 with a meeting held at San Miniato, near Pisa. The purpose of the QSCP workshops is to bring together, in an informal atmosphere and with the aim of fostering collaboration, those chemists and physicists who share a common ?eld of interest in the theory of the quantum many-body problem. Quantum mechanics provides a theoretical foundation for our understandingof the structure,propertiesanddynamicsof atoms, moleculesandthe solid state, in terms of their component particles: electrons and nuclei. The study of ‘Quantum Systems in Chemistry and Physics’ therefore underpins many of the emerging?elds in twenty-?rstcenturyscience andtechnology:nanostructure,smart materials, drug design – to name but a few. Members of the workshop were keen to discuss their research and engage in collaboration centred upon the development of fundamental and innovative theory which would lead to the exploration of new concepts. The proceedings of all of the workshops, which have been held annually since 1996, have been published both to disseminate the latest developments within the wider community and to stimulate further collaboration.
The basic theory of matter on the nanoscale is quantum mechanics and the application of quantum mechanics to the study of the many-body problem in molecules and materials is a rapidly developing field of research. Frontiers in Quantum Systems in Chemistry and Physics defines the leading edge; hence it describes the new theoretical developments available to a wider audience and presents theories which provide, for example, new insights into the structure of increasing complex molecular systems or molecules in a variety of environments. New computational techniques and practices are accessed, exploiting the wide range of equipment available to the researcher from “leadership” class supercomputers to distributed workstations and the internet. Just as important as the development of new theories and computer algorithms are the new areas of application, the ever expanding list of application areas in which studies at the quantum level are providing valuable insights. Frontiers in Quantum Systems in Chemistry and Physics allows new areas of application to be exposed to a wider audience.
