Basic Concepts for Simple and Complex Liquids

Important graduate textbook in condensed matter physics and physical chemistry.

Jean-Louis Barrat (Author), Jean-Pierre Hansen (Author)

9780521789530, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 27 March 2003

310 pages, 57 b/w illus. 1 table 27 exercises
24.8 x 17.8 x 1.9 cm, 0.632 kg

"a concise, very well-written textbook by two experts in the field, should help fill this gap in the physics curriculum..."A wealth of material is covered in fewer than 300 pages. This textbook is the only one that I know of that succinctly tackles such a diverse set of topics and attempts to find common viewpoints and theoretical approximations...I enjoyed reading asic Concepts for Simple and Complex Liquids and have used it in my own research group to introduce students to new research areas and ideas. the authors should be commended for an impressive pedagogical achievement." Physics Today

Presenting a unified approach to the liquid state, this book focusses on the concepts and theoretical methods that are necessary for an understanding of the physics and chemistry of the fluid state. The authors do not attempt to cover the whole field in an encyclopedic manner. Instead, important ideas are presented in a concise and rigorous style, and illustrated with examples from both simple molecular liquids and more complex soft condensed matter systems such as polymers, colloids, and liquid crystals. After a general chapter introducing the liquid state, the book is in four parts devoted to: thermodynamics; structure and fluctuations; phase transitions, interfaces and inhomogeneous fluids; and, finally, transport and dynamics. Each chapter introduces a new set of closely related concepts and theoretical methods, which are then illustrated by a number of specific applications covering a broad range of physical situations.

1. An introduction to liquid matter
Part I. Thermodynamics, Structure and Fluctuations: 2. A reminder of thermodynamics
3. Equilibrium fluctuations
Part II. Phase Transitions: 4. Mean field approaches
5. Critical fluctuations and scaling
Part III. Interfaces and Inhomogeneous Fluids: 6. Macroscopic description of interfaces
7. The density functional approach
8. Curvature and fluctuations
Part IV. Dynamics: 9. Phenomenological description of transport processes
10. Brownian motion, diffusion and the Langevin equation
11. Response and correlation functions
12. Slow relaxations.

Subject Areas: Physical chemistry [PNR], Condensed matter physics [liquid state & solid state physics PHFC], Materials / States of matter [PHF]