David M. Leitner
Our understanding of energy flow and localization in molecules, large and small, and its influence on unimolecular reaction kinetics has progressed with theoretical descriptions of energy flow and localization in quantum mechanical many-oscillator systems. I shall summarize some of our work on quantum energy flow and localization in molecules and connections to rate theory. I shall also discuss recent work on energy localization and vibrational energy transfer in proteins and similarities to vibrational energy transfer in disordered systems. This work focuses on characteristics of vibrational modes of proteins and heteropolymers generally, how they carry energy, their lifetimes, and how these compare with vibrational lifetimes in small molecules.