It is difficult to imagine how our highly evolved technological society would function, or how life would even exist on our planet, if polymers did not exist. The intensive study of polymeric systems, which has been under way for several decades, has recently yielded new insights into the properties of assemblies of these complex molecules and the physical principles that govern their behavior. These developments have included new concepts to describe aspects of the many body behavior in these systems, microscopic analyses that bring our understanding of these systems much closer to our understanding of simple liquids and solids, and the discovery of novel chemistry that these molecules can catalyze. This special topic volume of Advances in Chemical Physics surveys a number of these recent accomplishments. Supplemented with more than 250 illustrations, it provides a significant, up-to-date selection of papers by inter-nationally recognized researchers. Topics include: * Theory of Polyelectrolyte Solutions * Star Polymers: Experiment, Theory, and Simulation * Tethered Polymer Layers * Living Polymers * Transport and Kinetics in Electroactive Polymers Self-contained, authoritative, and timely, Polymeric Systems makes the cutting edge of polymer research available to scientists in every branch of chemical physics. Contributors to POLYMERIC SYSTEMS JEAN-LOUIS BARRAT, Département de Physique des Matériaux, Université Claude Bernard-Lyon l, France A. BAUMGÄRTNER, Institut für Festkörperforschung, Germany M. A. CARIGNANO, Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana LEWIS J. FETTERS, Corporate Research Science Laboratories, Exxon Research and Engineering Company, Annandale, New Jersey SANDRA C. GREER, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Maryland at College Park GARY S. GREST, Corporate Research Science Laboratories, Exxon Research and Engineering Company, Annandale, New Jersey JOHN S. HUANG, Corporate Research Science Laboratories, Exxon Research and Engineering Company, Annandale, New Jersey JEAN-FRANÇOIS JOANNY, Institut Charles Sadron, France MICHAEL E. G. LYONS, Electroactive Polymer Research Group, Physical Chemistry Laboratory, University of Dublin, Ireland M. MUTHUKUMAR, Department of Polymer Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts DIETER RICHTER, Institut für Festkörperforschung, Germany I. SZLEIFER, Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana

Advances in Chemical Physics is the only series of references available that explores the cutting edge of research in chemical physics. This series provides the chemical physics field with a forum for critical, authoritative evaluations of advances in every area of the discipline.

Based on a symposium on lasers, molecules, and methods held at the Los Alamos Center for Nonlinear Studies held in July 1986. Contributors present recent advances in theoretical and experimental research on a diversity of dynamical and optical phenomena resulting from the interactions of laser beams with molecules. They describe the predictive results of sophisticated mathematical models, the equipment involved in experiments, and reveal new insights into molecular structure and behavior.

This volume of Advances in Chemical Physics is dedicated, by the contributors, to Moshe Shapiro, formerly Canada Research Chair in Quantum Control in the Department of Chemistry at the University of British Columbia and Jacques Mimran Professor of Chemical Physics at the Weizmann Institute, who passed away on December 3, 2013. It focuses primarily on the interaction of light with molecules, one of Moshe's longstanding scientific loves. However, the wide range of topics covered in this volume constitutes but a small part of Moshe's vast range of scientific interests, which are well documented in over 300 research publications and two books.