Non-equilibrium Soft Matter Physics


Book Description

This volume contains a collection of review articles on the current topics of non-equilibrium soft matter physics written by leading experts in the field. It deals with topics such as evaporation, structual rheology, and active matter.







Out-of-equilibrium Soft Matter


Book Description

This book provides an expert introduction to active fluids systems, covering simple to complex environments.




Non-equilibrium Phenomena in Confined Soft Matter


Book Description

This book deals with those properties of non-equilibrium soft matter that deviate greatly from the bulk properties as a result of nanoscale confinement.The ultimate physical origin of these confinement effects is not yet fully understood. At the state of the art, the discussion on confinement effects focuses on equilibrium properties, finite size effects and interfacial interactions. However this is a limited vision which does not fully capture the peculiar behaviour of soft matter under confinement and some exotic phenomena that are displayed. This volume will be organized in the following three main themes. Equilibration and physical aging: treating non-equilibrium via the formal methodology of statistical physics in bulk, we analyse physical origin of the non-equilibrium character of thin polymer. We then focus on the impact of nanoconfinement on the equilibration of glasses of soft matter (a process of tremendous technological interest, commonly known as physical aging), comparing the latest trends of polymers in experiments, simulations with those of low-molecular weight glass formers. Irreversible adsorption: the formation of stable adsorbed layers occurs at timescales much larger than the time necessary to equilibrate soft matter in bulk. Recent experimental evidence show a strong correlation between the behaviour of polymers under confinement and the presence of a layer irreversibly adsorbed onto the substrate. This correlation hints at the possibility to tailor the properties of ultrathin films by controlling the adsorption kinetics. The book reports physical aspects of irreversible chain adsorption, such as the dynamics, structure, morphology, and crystallization of adsorbed layers. Glass transition and material properties: this section of the book focuses on the spread of absolute values in materials properties of confined systems, when measured by different experimental and computation techniques and a new method to quantify the effects of confinement in thin films and nanocomposites independently on the investigation procedure will be presented.




Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics in Multiphase Flows


Book Description

Non-equilibrium thermodynamics is a general framework that allows the macroscopic description of irreversible processes. This book introduces non-equilibrium thermodynamics and its applications to the rheology of multiphase flows. The subject is relevant to graduate students in chemical and mechanical engineering, physics and material science. This book is divided into two parts. The first part presents the theory of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, reviewing its essential features and showing, when possible, some applications. The second part of this book deals with how the general theory can be applied to model multiphase flows and, in particular, how to determine their constitutive relations. Each chapter contains problems at the end, the solutions of which are given at the end of the book. No prior knowledge of statistical mechanics is required; the necessary prerequisites are elements of transport phenomena and on thermodynamics. “The style of the book is mathematical, but nonetheless it remains very readable and anchored in the physical world rather than becoming too abstract. Though it is up-to-date and includes recent important developments, there is a lot of classical material in the book, albeit presented with unprecedented clarity and coherence. The first six chapters are actually a very good introduction to the theory underlying many phenomena in soft matter physics, beyond the focus on flow and transport of the later chapters of the book.” Prof Richard A.L. Jones FRS, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, University of Sheffield




Non-equilibrium Soft Matter Physics


Book Description

Soft matter is a concept which covers polymers, liquid crystals, colloids, amphiphilic molecules, glasses, granular and biological materials. One of the fundamental characteristic features of soft matter is that it exhibits various mesoscopic structures originating from a large number of internal degrees of freedom of each molecule. Due to such intermediate structures, soft matter can easily be brought into non-equilibrium states and cause non-linear responses by imposing external fields such as an electric field, a mechanical stress or a shear flow. Volume 4 of the series in Soft Condensed Matter focuses on the non-linear and non-equilibrium properties of soft matter. It contains a collection of review articles on the current topics of non-equilibrium soft matter physics written by leading experts in the field. The topics dealt with in this volume includes rheology of polymers and liquid crystals, dynamical properties of Langmuir monolayers at the air/water interface, hydrodynamics of membranes and twisted filaments as well as dynamics of deformable self-propelled particles and migration of biological cells. This book serves both as an introduction to students as well as a useful reference to researchers.




Out-of-equilibrium Soft Matter


Book Description

The term active fluids refers to motions that are created by transforming energy from the surroundings into directed motion. There are many examples, both natural and synthetic, including individual swimming bacteria or motile cells, drops and bubbles that move owing to surface stresses (so-called Marangoni motions), and chemical- or optical-driven colloids. Investigations into active fluids provide new insights into non-equilibrium systems, have the potential for novel applications, and open new directions in physics, chemistry, biology and engineering. This book provides an expert introduction to active fluids systems, covering simple to complex environments. It explains the interplay of chemical processes and hydrodynamics, including the roles of mechanical and rheological properties across active fluids, with reference to experiments, theory, and simulations. These concepts are discussed for a variety of scenarios, such as the trajectories of microswimmers, cell crawling and fluid stirring, and apply to collective behaviours of dense suspensions and active gels. Emerging avenues of research are highlighted, ranging from the role of active processes for biological functions to programmable active materials, showcasing the exciting potential of this rapidly-evolving research field.




Soft and Fragile Matter


Book Description

Covering colloids, polymers, surfactant phases, emulsions, and granular media, Soft and Fragile Matter: Nonequilibrium Dynamics, Metastability and Flow (PBK) provides self-contained and pedagogical coverage of the rapidly advancing field of systems driven out of equilibrium, with a strong emphasis on unifying conceptual principles rather than material-specific details. Written by internationally recognized experts, the book contains introductions at the level of a graduate course in soft condensed matter and statistical physics to the following areas: experimental techniques, polymers, rheology, colloids, computer simulation, surfactants, phase separation kinetics, driven systems, structural glasses, slow dynamics, and granular materials. These topics lead to a range of exciting applications at the forefront of current research, including microplasticity of emulsions, sequence design of copolymers, branched polymer dynamics, nucleation kinetics in colloids, multiscale modeling, flow-induced surfactant textures, fluid demixing under shear, two-time correlation functions, chaotic sedimentation dynamics, and sound propagation in powders. Balancing theory, simulation, and experiment, this broadly-based, pedagogical account of a rapidly developing field is an excellent compendium for graduate students and researchers in condensed matter physics, materials science, and physical chemistry.







Non-Dissipative Effects in Nonequilibrium Systems


Book Description

This book introduces and discusses both the fundamental aspects and the measurability of applications of time-symmetric kinetic quantities, outlining the features that constitute the non-dissipative branch of non-equilibrium physics. These specific features of non-equilibrium dynamics have largely been ignored in standard statistical mechanics texts. This introductory-level book offers novel material that does not take the traditional line of extending standard thermodynamics to the irreversible domain. It shows that although stationary dissipation is essentially equivalent with steady non-equilibrium and ubiquitous in complex phenomena, non-equilibrium is not determined solely by the time-antisymmetric sector of energy-entropy considerations. While this should not be very surprising, this book provides timely, simple reminders of the role of time-symmetric and kinetic aspects in the construction of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics.