Slow Dynamics in Complex Systems

The book gives up-to-date information on slow dynamics in complex systems, such as polymers, emulsions, colloidal suspensions, glass-forming liquids, etc., many of which exhibit glass transitions. It contains review articles by leading scientists and contributed papers by authors at the forefront of research. Experiments along with theories and computer simulations are emphasized.

Tokuyama (Institute of Fluid Science, Tohoku U., Japan) and Oppenheim (chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US) present the proceedings of an international symposium (held in November of 2003) exploring five general topics of slow dynamics; complex fluids, polymer dynamics, biological systems, complex systems, and glass transitions. Thirty invited talks, 76 oral presentations, and 205 poster presentations are contained, notably including four hour-long presentations by Nobel Prize Winners. Among the more significant topics cited by the editors are experimental and theoretical studies of colloidal systems, experiments on glass to glass transitions in micellar systems, theoretical studies of polyelectrolytes and polymer melts and networks, computer simulations of the glass transition in thin films, vibrational motions in glass forming liquids and glasses, the effects of shear on supercooled liquids, and mode-coupling studies of complex glass formation. Annotation © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

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Experimentalists, theoreticians, and computer scientists from all over the world share their experience and thoughts about slow dynamics from the perspectives of complex fluids, structure and patterns, glass transition, and polymer dynamics. A sampling of the some 180 topics shows spatial heterogeneities and density fluctuations, highly charged dilute colloidal suspensions, the dielectric relaxation of water adsorbed on the pore surface of silica glasses, non-equilibrium phase change in the poly-disperse system, the role of vibrational modes in structural relaxations in supercooled liquids, hedgehog-like solitons in glasses, mechano-chemical patterns observed in collapsing gels, the dynamics of a polymer chain under geometrical constraints, and exact relations for the spin correlation functions. No subject index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)