Nonequilibrium Phenomena in Confined Soft Matter

by Simone Napolitano (Editor)
Presents the state of the art on the phenomena of nano-confinement for a large class of polymers and low molecular weight glass formers
Shows how confinement effects are related to non-equilibrium phases
Collects the latest and most important experiments and simulations on nanoconfined systems
Features contributions from some of the most active and respected researchers in the field

Thermodiffusion describes the coupling between a temperature gradient and a resulting mass flux. Traditionally, the focus has been on simple fluids, and it is now extending to more complex systems such as electrolytes, polymers, colloidal dispersions and magnetic fluids. This book widens the scope even further by including applications in ionic solids. Written as a set of tutorial reviews, it will be useful to experts, nonspecialist researchers and postgraduate students alike.

During the past few decades there has been increasing interest in the study of complexitywithaviewtobetterunderstandphysical,biological,economicand social systems. The specific features of complexity dealing with nonequilib- rium phenomena are intimately connected with statistical dynamics and form one of the growing research areas in modern nonlinear physics. These studies encompass the ideas of self-organization, phase transition, critical phenom- ena, self-organized criticality and turbulence. In this book we have tried to bring together into a coherent account the recent developments in the study of nonequilibrium phenomena in plasmas.

This book presents the general concepts of self-organized spatio-temporal ordering processes. These concepts are demonstrated via prototypical examples of recent advances in materials science. Particular emphasis is on nanoscale soft matter in physics, chemistry, biology and biomedicine. The questions addressed embrace a broad spectrum of complex nonlinear phenomena, ranging from self-assembling near the thermodynamical equilibrium to dissipative structure formation far from equilibrium. Their mutual interplay gives rise to increasing degrees of hierarchical order. Analogues are pointed out, differences characterized and efforts are made to reveal common features in the mechanistic description of those phenomena.