The close relationship between experimentalists and theorists - whether
solid state chemists or physicists - has, in the last few years,
inspired much research in the field of materials with quasi
one-dimensional structures.
This volume, Part I of a two-volume set, reviews the basic theories
describing the physical properties of one-dimensional materials
including their superconducting characteristics. This description is
mainly based on the properties of transition metal trichalcogenides. The
novel collective transport mechanism for electronic conduction,
exhibited by some of the latter compounds - NbSe3 being
considered as the prototype - is surveyed according to a classical
theory and a theory including macroscopic quantum effects. In addition,
the book contains a description of the properties of non-linear
excitations, or solitons, in one-dimensional systems.