Final Activity Report Summary - SOUTHERN DYNAMICS (Chemical dynamics: Experimental and theoretical developments) The purpose of this project was to complement the existing experimental state of the art capabilities in the chemical dynamics laboratory operating at the European Union's large scale laser facility at the Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH) in Heraklion, Crete, with analogous high level of theoretical and computational support. Conversely, this project would also complement the high level of theoretical and computational capabilities in the chemical dynamics laboratory in Madrid with analogous state of the art experimental knowhow. The chemical dynamics laboratories operating at both locations had respectively demonstrated excellence in performing internationally recognised experiments and theory in gas phase reaction dynamics. At FORTH a plethora of complex chemical reactions were studied producing a wealth of dynamical details concerning many reactions that went way beyond the benchmark three atom systems. At this point it was imperative to develop, in parallel to this experimentally rich productivity, a computational and theoretical support team in order to understand and properly model the studied chemical processes. Analogously, in Madrid a large number of chemical reactions were studied with high-level theory, but being able to perform experiments in the immediate surrounding would contribute enormously to the scientific output and the further development of the laboratory. The two locations, Heraklion and Madrid, had tremendous amounts of complementary expertise and would greatly benefit from knowledge transfer between the two nodes. Therefore, the purpose of this proposal was to seek out and hire qualified researchers, with knowledge in theoretical and experimental reaction dynamics, that would initially be introduced to the current state of the art of each node and then transfer this knowledge during the second half of the project to the other node. At the end of the project the goal was to have the two laboratories reach the level of excellence both in experiment and theory. These objectives were satisfied in all aspects, as was reported in the project periodic reports. Namely, FORTH acquired the knowhow to run state of the art ab initio calculations and Madrid set up a slice imaging apparatus.
