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Observation, Prediction and Simulation of Phase Transitions in Complex Fluids presents an overview of the phase transitions that occur in a variety of soft-matter systems: colloidal suspensions of spherical or rod-like particles and their mixtures, directed polymers and polymer blends, colloid--polymer mixtures, and liquid-forming mesogens. This modern and fascinating branch of condensed matter physics is presented from three complementary viewpoints. The first section, written by experimentalists, emphasises the observation of basic phenomena (by light scattering, for example). The second section, written by theoreticians, focuses on the necessary theoretical tools (density functional theory, path integrals, free energy expansions). The third section is devoted to the results of modern simulation techniques (Gibbs ensemble, free energy calculations, configurational bias Monte Carlo). The interplay between the disciplines is clearly illustrated.
For all those interested in modern research in equilibrium statistical mechanics.
List of contents
A) Experiment.- Phase Transition of Spherical Colloids.- Liquid Crystal Phase Transitions in Dispersions of Rodlike Colloidal Particles.- Phase Transitions in Colloidal Suspensions of Virus Particles.- B) Theory.- Colloidal Suspensions: Density Functional Theory at Work.- Bilayer Phases.- Liquid Crystal Interfaces.- Statistical Mechanics of Directed Polymers.- C) Simulation.- to Monte Carlo Simulation.- Numerical Techniques to Study Complex Liquids.- Molecular Dynamics Techniques for Complex Molecular Systems.- Gibbs Ensemble Techniques.- Phase Transitions in Polymeric Systems.- Simulations and Phase Behaviour of Liquid Crystals.- D) Seminars.- Equilibrium Sedimentation Profiles of Screened Charged Colloids. A Test of the Hard-Sphere Equation of State.- Dynamics of N-Nonadecane Chains in Urea Inclusion Compounds as Seen by Incoherent Quasielastic Neutron Scattering and Computer Simulations.- Theory of Phase Equilibria in Associating Systems: Chain and Ring Aggregates, Amphiphiles, and Liquid Crystals.- Can a Solid Be Turned into a Gas without Passing through a First order Phase Transition?.- List of Participants.
