Since 1998 our group has been involved in a colaboration with the theoretical chemistry group led by Prof. Jack Simons (Henry Eyring Center for Theoretical Chemistry, University of Utah, U.S.A.). Prof. Simons is a well-known scientist whose areas of interest cover an ab initio electronic structure of molecular anions, the development of new theoretical methods for treating electron-electron interactions, chemical reaction paths, electronic energy flow and the forces which govern molecular dynamics, and the exploring vibration-to-electronic coupling which can govern the rate of electron detachment from vibrationally hot anions. We are fortunate to colaborate closely with such a famous scientist and the members of our group join the Simons' group in Utah for several months each year. Our group and the Simons' group are involved in many joint projects, such as:
(past):
- ab initio electronic structure of dipole-bound anions,
- the binding of two electrons by the potential of the dipole,
- one-, two-, and three electron Rydberg bonds,
- introducing of a concept of Repulsive Coulomb Barrier (RCB) regarding multiply charged anions.
(present):
- mechanism for damage to DNA by low-energy electrons (Joanna Berdys and Iwona Anusiewicz),
- ab initio study of bound-excited states of anions (Monika Sobczyk),
- an electronic structure of unusual molecular anions (e.g., dipole-, quadrupole-, and octopole-bound anions, and Double-Rydberg anions) (Iwona Anusiewicz),
- the search for molecular systems exhibiting the "reversed polarity" which can be directly used to design a new kind of ionic batteries (Agnieszka Sawicka),
- dispersion-bound anions (Piotr Skurski).
Moreover, since the early 90s, our group has been collaborating with Prof. Maciej Gutowski who is a very famous specialist in the areas of Van der Waals interactions, negatively charged ions, and the surface science. Thanks to Prof. Gutowski some of subjects outlined above were initiated and worked on (including studies on dipole-, quadrupole, and octopole-bound anions, bound excited anionic states, as well as the excess electron binding by the zwitterionic molecules).