This book presents the theory of soft matter to students at the advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate level. It provides a basic introduction to theoretical physics as applied to soft matter, explaining the concepts of symmetry, broken symmetry, and order parameters; phases and phase transitions; mean-field theory; and the mathematics of variational calculus and tensors. It is written in an informal, conversational style, which is accessible to students from a diverse range of backgrounds. The book begins with a simple “toy model” to demonstrate the physical significance of free energy. It then introduces two standard theories of phase transitions—the Ising model for ferromagnetism and van der Waals theory of gases and liquids—and uses them to illustrate principles of statistical mechanics. From those examples, it moves on to discuss order, disorder, and broken symmetry in many states of matter, and to explain the theoretical methods that are used to model the phenomena. It concludes with a chapter on liquid crystals, which brings together all of these physical and mathematical concepts. The book is accompanied online by a set of “interactive figures”—some allow readers to change parameters and see what happens to a graph, some allow readers to rotate a plot or other graphics in 3D, and some do both. These interactive figures help students to develop their intuition for the physical meaning of equations. This book will prepare advanced undergraduate or early graduate students to go into more advanced theoretical studies. It will also equip students going into experimental soft matter science to be fully conversant with the theoretical aspects and have effective collaborations with theorists.

The study of "soft matter" materials with complex properties has raised a number of interesting problems in basic physics, biology, and materials science, all of which promise new and important technological applications. After a review of chemical bonds and phase transitions, the authors treat topics such as surface phenomena, stability of colloidal systems, structural properties of polymers, and topological defects. The monograph's emphasis on underlying physical principles offers a coherent treatment of the great variety of research in the field.

Tom McLeish delves into the growing field of soft matter - the study of materials such as polymers, colloids, liquid crystals, and foams. Looking beneath their appearance to their inner structure, he discusses their shared physical properties, the principle of Brownian Motion that underlies all soft matter, and the applications of these materials.

In a liquid crystal watch, the molecules contained within a thin film of the screen are reorientated each second by extremely weak electrical signals. Here is a fine example of soft matter: molecular systems giving a strong response to a very weak command signal. They can be found almost everywhere. Soft magnetic materials used in transformers exhibit a strong magnetic moment under the action of a weak magnetic field. Take a completely different domain: gelatin, formed from col lagen fibres dissolved in hot water. When we cool below 37°C, gelation occurs, the chains joining up at various points to form a loose and highly deformable network. This is a natural example of soft matter. Going further, rather than consider a whole network, we could take a single chain of flexible polymer, such as polyoxyethylene [POE = (CH CH O)N, 2 2 5 where N rv 10 ], for example, in water. Such a chain is fragile and may break under flow. Even though hydrodynamic forces are very weak on the molecular scale, their cumulated effect may be significant. Think of a rope pulled from both ends by two groups of children. Even if each girl and boy cannot pull very hard, the rope can be broken when there are enough children pulling.

This book provides an introduction to this exciting and relativelynew subject with chapters covering natural and synthetic polymers,colloids, surfactants and liquid crystals highlighting the many andvaried applications of these materials. Written by an expert in thefield, this book will be an essential reference for people workingin both industry and academia and will aid in understanding of thisincreasingly popular topic. Contains a new chapter on biological soft matter Newly edited and updated chapters including updated coverageof recent aspects of polymer science. Contain problems at the end of each chapter to facilitateunderstanding

This primer is aimed at elevating graduate students of condensed matter theory to a level where they can engage in independent research. Topics covered include second quantisation, path and functional field integration, mean-field theory and collective phenomena.

While the standard solid state topics are covered, the basic ones often have more detailed derivations than is customary (with an empasis on crystalline solids). Several recent topics are introduced, as are some subjects normally included only in condensed matter physics. Lattice vibrations, electrons, interactions, and spin effects (mostly in magnetism) are discussed the most comprehensively. Many problems are included whose level is from "fill in the steps" to long and challenging, and the text is equipped with references and several comments about experiments with figures and tables.