PHY 625: Statistical Physics II

First class on Thursday 01/24/19

Major Topics:

• colloids
• polymers
• surfactants
• liquid crystals
• surfaces and interfaces
• elasticity, viscosity, viscoelasticity
• diffusion and permeation
• self-assembly
  
• ionic soft matter
• biological matter
• microfluidics
  

This is an open-ended, topical course. It explores ideas of current interest in the rapidly expanding field of soft condensed matter. The emphasis will be on the application of concepts grounded in statistical physics. This course does not have a required textbook. Some useful references will be suggested and listed on this webpage as the semester progresses. Additional topics may be covered as time permits or preferences suggest. The online topic outline will be updated periodically. Some lecture notes will be posted.

Exercises on specific themes will be discussed regularly. Some of the exercises will be worked out in class. Others will be assigned to participants. Auditing participants are welcome (please contact instructor).

Some relevant textbooks and monographs

• R. A. L. Jones: Soft condensed matter. Oxford University Press 2002.
• I. W. Hamley: Introduction to soft matter. Wiley, New York 2007.
• M. Daoud and C. E. Williams (Eds.): Soft matter physics. Springer, New York 1999.
• W. Hu and A.-C. Shi (Eds.): Understanding soft condensed matter via modeling and computation. World Scientific, Singapore 2011.
• A. V. Finkelstein and O. P. Ptitsyn: Protein physics. Academic Press, New York 2002.
• M. Doi: Soft matter physics. Oxford University Press 2013.
• T. A. Witten: Structured fluids -- polymers, colloids, surfactants. Oxford University Press 2004.
  
• P. Nelson: Biological physics. Freeman, New York 2004.
• A. Y. Grosberg and A. R. Khokhlov: Statistical physics of macromolecules. AIP Press, New York 1994.
• Henrik Bruus: Theoretical microfluidics. Oxford University Press 2008.
• L.S. Hirst: Fundamentals of soft matter science. CRC Press, London 2013.
• J. V. Selinger: Introduction to the theory of soft matter. Springer, New York 2016.
• M. Kleman and O. D. Lavrentovich: Soft matter physics. Springer, New York 2003.
• I. Teraoka: Polymer solutions -- an introduction to physical properties. Wiley Interscience, New York 2002.
• Jan Kierfeld: Theorie weicher und biologischer Materie. Lecture notes, Technische Universität Dortmund 2009.
  

Related course: MCE550 - Continuum Mechanics (taught by Prof. D.M.L. Meyer)

Last update: 11/25/18