Nonlinear Fokker-Planck Equations : Fundamentals and Applications
Providing an introduction to the theory of nonlinear Fokker-Planck equations, this book discusses fundamental properties of transient and stationary solutions, emphasizing the stability analysis of stationary solutions by means of self-consistency equations, linear stability analysis, and Lyapunov's direct method. Also treated are Langevin equations and correlation functions. Nonlinear Fokker-Planck Equations addresses various phenomena such as phase transitions, multistability of systems, synchronization, anomalous diffusion, cut-off solutions, travelling-wave solutions and the emergence of power law solutions. A nonlinear Fokker-Planck perspective to quantum statistics, generalized thermodynamics, and linear nonequilibrium thermodynamics is given. Theoretical concepts are illustrated where possible by simple examples. The book also reviews several applications in the fields of condensed matter physics, the physics of porous media and liquid crystals, accelerator physics, neurophysics, social sciences, population dynamics, and computational physics.
Nonlinear Dielectric Phenomena in Complex Liquids
Complex liquids constitute a basic element in modern materials science; their significant features include self-assembly, mesoscale structures, complex dynamics, unusual phases and enormous sensitivity to perturbations. Understanding their nature and properties are a great challenge to modern materials science that demands novel approaches. This book focuses on nonlinear dielectric phenomena, particularly on nonlinear dielectric spectroscopy (NDS), which may be considered a possible successor to broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS). NDS phenomena directly coupled to mesoscale heterogeneity fluctuations, so information obtained in this way is basically complementary to BDS tests. The book also discusses the application of NDS in a set of complex liquid systems: glassy liquids, liquid crystals, liquids with critical point phenomena, and bio-relevant liquids. The complementary application of NDS and BDS may allow the discovery of universal patterns for the whole category of complex liquids. Written by specialists in the field of nonlinear dielectric studies, theoreticians and experimentalists, ranging from solid state physics to biophysics, the book is organized so that it can serve as a basic textbook for a non-experienced reader.
Modern Magnetic Resonance ; Part 1 : Applications in Chemistry, Biological and Marine Sciences ; Part 2 : Applications in Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences ; Part 3 : Applications in Materials Science and Food Science
Modern Magnetic Resonance provides a unique and comprehensive resource on up-to-date uses and applications of magnetic resonance techniques in the sciences, including chemistry, biology, materials, food, medicine, pharmaceuticals and marine sciences.The widespread appeal of MMR methods for revealing information at the molecular and microscopic levels is noted and examples are provided from the chemical and other sciences.Until now, there has been no single publication that covers all the areas encompassed by "Modern Magnetic Resonance", by bringing together the various techniques and their applications in many scientific areas, the internationally renowned Editors have created a resource of broad appeal to the scientific community.
Modeling of Soft Matter
Soft matter plays a role in a wide variety of important processes and application. For example, gel swelling and dynamics are an essential part of many biological and individual processes, such as motility mechanisms in bacteria and the transport and absorption of drugs. Ferroelectrics, liquid crystals, and elastomers are being used to design ever faster switching devices. Experimental studies, such as scattering, optical and electron microscopy, have provided a great deal of detailed information on structures. But the integration of mathematical modeling and analysis with experimental approaches promises to greatly increase our understanding of structure-property relationships and constitutive equations. The workshop on Modeling of Soft Matter has taken such an integrated approach.
Equilibrium statistical physics : Phases of matter and phase transitions
This is a textbook which gradually introduces the student to the statistical mechanical study of the different phases of matter and to the phase transitions between them. Throughout, only simple models of both ordinary and soft matter are used but these are studied in full detail. The subject is developed in a pedagogical manner, starting from the basics, going from the simple ideal systems to the interacting systems, and ending with the more modern topics. The latter include the renormalisation group approach to critical phenomena, the density functional theory of interfaces, the topological defects of nematic liquid crystals and the kinematic aspects of the phase transformation process. This textbook provides the student with a complete overview, intentionally at an introductory level, of the theory of phase transitions. References include suggestions for more detailed treatments and four appendices supply overviews of the mathematical tools employed in the text.
Crystallography and the World of Symmetry
Symmetry exists in realms from crystals to patterns, in external shapes of living or non-living objects, as well as in the fundamental particles and the physical laws that govern them. In fact, the search for this symmetry is the driving force for the discovery of many fundamental particles and the formulation of many physical laws. While one can not imagine a world which is absolutely symmetrical nor can one a world which is absolutely asymmetrical. These two aspects of nature are intermingled with each other inseparably. This is the basis of the existence of aperiodicity manifested in the liquid crystals and also quasi-crystals also discussed in Crystallography and the World of Symmetry.
Controlled Synthesis of Nanoparticles in Microheterogeneous Systems
contains descriptions of one of the most powerful bottom-up methods of synthesizing size controlled and stable nanoparticles. This method is based on the use of surfactant-containing microheterogeneous systems: liquid crystals, monolayers and multilayers, solutions of direct and reversed micelles, direct and reversed vesicles, and water-in-oil and oil-in-water microemulsions. The author is prominent in the field of physico-chemical characterization of microheterogeneous systems and their use as ideal solvent and reaction media for the production and long-term storage of nanomaterials. This is the first book that attempts to unify the knowledge necessary for judicious manipulation of surfactant-based systems and a fine tuning of geometric and physico-chemical properties of nanoparticles of a wide variety of substances
Computer Simulations of Liquid Crystals and Polymers ; Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Computational Methods for Polymers and Liquid Crystalline Polymers, Erice, Italy. 16-22 July 2003
Liquid crystals, polymers and polymer liquid crystals are soft condensed matter systems of major technological and scientific interest. An understanding of the macroscopic properties of these complex systems and of their many and interesting peculiarities at the molecular level can nowadays only be attained using computer simulations and statistical mechanical theories. Both in the Liquid Crystal and Polymer fields a considerable amount of simulation work has been done in the last few years with various classes of models at different special resolutions, ranging from atomistic to molecular and coarse-grained lattice models. Each of the two fields has developed its own set of tools and specialized procedures and the book aims to provide a state of the art review of the computer simulation studies of polymers and liquid crystals. This is of great importance in view of a potential cross-fertilization between these connected areas which is particularly apparent for a number of experimental systems like, e.g. polymer liquid crystals and anisotropic gels where the different fields necessarily merge. An effort has been made to assess the possibilities of a coherent description of the themes that have developed independently, and to compare and extend the theoretical and computational techniques put forward in the different areas.
Computer simulations in condensed matter : From materials to chemical biology ; Vol.2
This extensive and comprehensive collection of lectures by world-leading experts in the field introduces and reviews all relevant computer simulation methods and their applications in condensed matter systems. Volume 1, published as LNP 703 (ISBN 3-540-35270-8) is an in-depth introduction to a vast spectrum of computational techniques for statistical mechanical systems of condensed matter. It will enable the graduate student and both the specialist and nonspecialist researcher to get acquainted with the tools necessary to carry out numerical simulations at an advanced level. The present volume is a state-of-the-art survey on numerical experiments carried out for a great number of systems, ranging from materials sciences to chemical biology, such as supercooled liquids, spin glasses, colloids, polymers, liquid crystals, biological membranes and folding proteins.
Low Molecular Mass Gelators : Design, Self-Assembly, Function
Chapter 1 presents the physical principles of the growth mechanism of fiber and fiber network with LMGs, as treated on the basis of the heterogeneous nucleation model. in Chaps. 2 and 3, respectively. These chapters are intended to outline useful synthetic guidelines for the generation of an ever-increasing variety of molecular architectures within these two families of gelators. Recent developments in the chemistry of nucleobase-containing LMGs are described in Chap. 4. Hydrogen-bonding within these molecular systems involves complementary base pair formation, a process relevant to DNA double-helix formation The self-assembly of chiral organo- or hydrogelators is the subject of Chap. 5. result from the orthogonal self-assembly of liquid crystals and LMGs are presented in Chap. 6. The volume concludes with Chap. 7, a review of the emerging field of dendritic gels.
Liquid Crystalline Functional Assemblies and Their Supramolecular Structures
This book presents critical reviews of the present position and future trends in modern chemical research concerned with chemical structure and bonding. It contains short and concise reports, each written by the world's renowned experts.
Advanced computer simulation approaches for soft matter sciences I
Soft matter science is nowadays an acronym for an increasingly important class of materials, which ranges from polymers, liquid crystals, colloids up to complex macromolecular assemblies, covering sizes from the nanoscale up the microscale. Computer simulations have proven as an indispensable, if not the most powerful, tool to understand properties of these materials and link theoretical models to experiments. In this first volume of a small series recognized leaders of the field review advanced topics and provide critical insight into the state-of-the-art methods and scientific questions of this lively domain of soft condensed matter research.











