Fractals, Quasicrystals, Chaos, Knots and Algebraic Quantum Mechanics

At the end of the workshop on New Theoretical Concepts in Physical Chemistry, one of the participants made an attempt to present a first impression of its achievements from his own personal standpoint. Appar­ ently his views reflected a general feeling, so that the organizers thought they would be suitable as a presentation of the proceedings for future readers. That is the background from which this foreword was born. The scope of the workshop is a very broad one. There are contribu­ tions from mathematics, physics, crystallography, chemistry and biology; the problems are approached either by means of axiomatic and rigorous methods, or at an empirical phenomenological level. This same diversifi­ cation can be found in the new basic concepts presented. Some arise from pure theoretical investigation in C*-algebra or in quantum probability theory; others from an analysis of very complex experimental data like nuclear energy levels, or processes on the frontier between classical and quantum physics; others again have their origin in the discovery of new ordered structures like the icosahedral crystal phases, or the knots of DNA molecules; others follow from the application of ideas like frac­ tals or chaos to new fields like spectral theory or chemical reactions. It is to be expected that readers will have to face the same sort of difficulties as did the participants in understanding such diverse languages, in applying themselves to subjects possibly far from their own experience, and in grasping highly sophisticated new concepts.