Overview and Prospects

But with some further elaboration the present view contrasts with yet another occasionally proclaimed type of statement of conventional wisdom  

Here again we take a contrary view. First the parenthetic statement is no logical direct consequence even if the non-parenthetic assertion was to be granted - whether or not 

That is, building up corrections (via the usual many-body techniques) often seems not to be able to shift a wave-function between universality classes associated to different long-range orders. But of course even for finite systems there also are questions of rates of convergence and ease of interpretation of results - and in this case it would seem that whatever preferences there might be would depend on the particular system under consideration. 

It seems that there is much promise in and for VB theory, even for many-body VB theory. There are very many techniques, results, and ideas now more-so in the physics literature and much of this should be applicable in a more chemical context. Only an outline of the extensive literature on techniques has been attempted here, and it seems likely that some of these techniques are susceptible to much further improvement. But also it should be mentioned that there are extensive recent theorematic results, e.g., as a sample of more than a hundred pages worth may be noted in [87], some of which may ultimately prove of chemical or materials-science interest. There are [88] other (somewhat differently flavored and more mathematically detailed) reviews of the area from the point of view of physics. 

Surely VB theory is an important area pioneered by Linus Pauling. Evidently this legacy is becoming more widely appreciated - and a great number of fundamental results and powerful computational methods have been developed within the last decade or so. Bringing chemical relevance out of this flood of work seems an exciting prospect. Presumably there soon will be many chemical and physical applications, such as I think would especially please Pauling. 

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Bayer EA, Wilchek M. Biotin-binding proteins Overview and prospects. Methods Enzymol 1990 184 49-51. 

Miilhaupt, R., Novel Polyolefin Materials and Processes Overview and Prospects , in Ziegler Catalysts, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1995, pp. 35-55. 

Jackson, D.M., R.F. Severson, and A.W. Johnson Effects of natural tobacco constituents on insect survival, development, and behavior Recent Adv. Tob. Sci. 15 (1989) 26-116. Kuc, J. Regulation of insect and pathogen activity in tobacco and tobacco products Overview and prospects for the future Recent Adv. Tob. Sci. 15 (1989) 245-252. 

McGill, J. and van Ryzin, G. (1999). Revenue management Research overview and prospects. Transportation Science, 33 233-256. 

McGill, Jeffrey I. and Garrett J. van Ryzin (1999). Revenue Management Research Overview and Prospects, Transportation Science, 33, 233-256. 

GUIDEZ, J., MARTIN, L., Phenix Thirty years of operation for research, reactor renovation overview and prospect, paper presented in the Conf Fifty years of nuclear power-the next fifty years, 27 June-2 July 2004, Moscow, Russian Federation. 

J.L. Davis, M.L. Cosmo, G. Elgered Using the Global Positioning System to study the atmosphere of the earth Overview and prospects. In GPS Trends in Precise Terrestrial, Airborne, and Spaceborne Applicoiions, lAG Symposia, Vol. 115, ed. by G. Beutler, G.W. Hein, W.G. Melbourne, G. Seeber (Springer, Berlin 1996) p. 233... 

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