Soft Condensed Matter: Configurations, Dynamics and Functionality

The term "soft condensed matter" encompasses a wide range of substances which are neither ordinary solids nor ordinary liquids. They do have vestigial liquid and solid properties, but their character is much more complex and subtle. Systems range from foams and complex fluids to granular materials and biomaterials (proteins, DNA, membranes). The structural states they adopt are driven by subtle competition between intermolecular interaction energies and entropic forces, both of which are often close to thermal energies at room temperature. Configurations and their dynamic evolution are significant determinants of a wide variety of mesoscopic and microscopic properties. The book reviews both the language needed to discuss such systems, as well as basic questions about such phenomena as competing ground states, nonlinear feedback, and slow dynamics. The approach is pedagogical and tutorial. The level is appropriate to graduate researchers, either moving into the field or already active in it.