Soft matter science is an interdisciplinary field at the interface of physics, biology, chemistry, engineering, and materials science. It encompasses colloids, polymers, and liquid crystals as well as rapidly emerging topics such as metamaterials, memory formation and learning in matter, bioactive systems, and artificial life. This textbook introduces key phenomena and concepts in soft matter from a modern perspective, marrying established knowledge with the latest developments and applications. The presentation integrates statistical mechanics, dynamical systems, and hydrodynamic approaches, emphasizing conservation laws and broken symmetries as guiding principles while paying attention to computational and machine learning advances.
- An all-in-one textbook for advanced undergraduates and graduate students and an invaluable reference for practitioners
- Features introductory chapters on fluid mechanics, elasticity, and stochastic phenomena
- Covers advanced topics such as pattern formation and active matter
- Discusses technological applications as well as relevant phenomena in the life sciences
- Offers perspectives on emerging research directions
- Includes more than a hundred step-by-step problems suitable for active learning and flipped-classroom settings
- Accompanied by a website with additional material such as movies of experimental systems
- Solutions manual (available only to instructors)
“A tour de force. This book is an outstanding contribution to soft matter research and beyond.”—Tom Lubensky, Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Physics, Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania
“Soft materials are around us, on us, and indeed are us. Soft Matter provides a broad introduction to a transdisciplinary field that reflects the material it uncovers, simultaneously gentle in approach and rich in scope. The hydrodynamic seaway to a myriad of phases via coarse-grained models using broken symmetry as a guiding principle, and the treatment of spatiotemporal patterns that result, are particular strengths of the book, and both are likely to enthuse many to learn and develop the many living arms of the subject!”—L. Mahadevan, Harvard University
“Considering the breadth of soft matter, this textbook is a daunting accomplishment. It presents the fundamentals of fluids, elasticity, and fluctuations in synchrony with the introduction of the new concepts and phenomena that make soft matter so rich, varied, and exciting. The authors make palpable the thrill of soft matter research by describing the striking behavior of its many different phases that permeate our environment and covering forefront research topics—from artificial intelligence to artificial life. This ambitious book succeeds on many levels and should be welcomed by all physicists.”—Sidney R. Nagel, University of Chicago
“How should one teach a class on soft matter? This book is the answer to many confronted with this question. Just like soft matter itself, this book is fascinating, thought-stimulating, and conceptually rich. Given the subject’s relevance to today’s societal challenges, any modern physics curriculum should not be missing a class on this subject or the chance to use this book. Its multilayered structure makes it as enjoyable for first-year students as for researchers who have worked for decades in this still youthful field.”—Detlef Lohse, University of Twente
“If you’re a statistical physicist who wants to gain a working knowledge of the whole scope of modern soft condensed matter phenomena, this is the book for you. For each treated form of soft matter, it shows how powerful mathematical laws dictate its many-body behavior. The book includes externally driven cooperative motion as well as distinctive spatial organizations. It gives the minimal mathematical structure from which the many-body laws can be inferred. It also provides special insight into the just-discovered phenomena of topologically dictated motions and nonreciprocal interactions. All this is conveyed in a relaxed, conversational style.”—Thomas A. Witten, author of Structured Fluids
“The insightful discussions presented in the book, with their emphasis on concepts and their coverage of current research, are extremely valuable for understanding why and when to use the various theories. The book does an excellent job of introducing students to the ‘way of thinking’ in soft matter physics.”—Erwin Frey, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
“Soft matter is the stuff of which not only our dreams, but our everyday lives are made—and this wonderful book on the topic fulfills a dream of mine. It encompasses the diversity of the field while remaining precise, deep, modern, and attractive. From fundamental concepts to applications, it provides the reader with a solid interdisciplinary background while cultivating the mental agility and sophistication needed to become an elegant physicist.”—Olivier Dauchot, director of the CNRS Gulliver Laboratory in Paris
“This book gives a comprehensive and balanced presentation of soft condensed matter physics, covering the main physical concepts, more classical areas such as colloids and interfaces, and more recent and advanced topics such as active matter and nonequilibrium pattern formation. It will be very useful for graduate students and researchers in related branches of physics, chemistry, and biology as well as in more general fields such as energy and sustainable development.”—Jean-François Joanny, Collège de France
