Exploring complexity from simplicity:
Collective excitations of clusters
ubuck@msfp18.gwdg.de
MPI fuer Stroemungsforschung
Bunsenstrasse 10,D-37018 Gottingen, Germany
Small clusters are usually thought to behave like molecules, while
the larger ones are considered to show properties of the condensed solid
or liquid. A critical indication of such a behavior is the transition from
single to collective excitations in the clusters. We will present recent
experimental examples and discuss possible changes caused by the finite
number of particles. The examples will include with decreasing excitation
energies: plasmons for metal clusters, intramolecular vibrations for hydrogen
bonded networks, translational motions (phonons) for weakly bound systems,
and, finally, rotons for superfluid helium clusters.