Soft Matter: Concepts, Phenomena, and Applications Wim van Saarloos, Vincenzo Vitelli, and Zorana Zeravcic is an English-language textbook on matter physics. This reference work is aimed at professionals and advanced students who are interested in soft matter and its applications.
The book provides an extensive and up-to-date overview of the most important concepts and phenomena in soft matter physics. Topics range from colloids, polymers, and liquid crystals to innovative subjects such as metamaterials, bioactive systems, and artificial life. The content combines statistical mechanics, dynamical systems, and hydrodynamics, with an emphasis on conservation laws and broken symmetries.
Key features:
- Introductory chapters on fluid mechanics, elasticity, and stochastic processes;
- Advanced topics such as pattern formation and active matter;
- Technological applications and relevant phenomena in the life sciences;
- More than one hundred step-by-step problem sets for active learning;
- Additional material and a solutions guide for instructors via a companion website.
The book aligns with condensed matter physics and is suitable for in-depth study and practice-oriented research in this field.