INTRODUCTION TO FOCUSED SESSION ON ANOMALOUS RELAXATION

The phenomena of 'anomalous relaxation' is the subject of this focused session. The definition of 'anomalous relaxation' is first given, whi ch is followed by a brief historical review and an explanation of the present status of research on 'anomalous relaxation'. Judging from the fact that most of the experimental data concerning 'anomalous relaxat ion' in a wide variety of disordered and amorphous systems are fitted to a few empirical laws, it is expected that we can find some common f eatures in the phenomena of 'anomalous relaxation' in various material s, even when the microscopic mechanisms causing 'anomalous relaxation' differ from one another. A strategy for a systematic approach to the elucidation of these common features is proposed.