Flowing Matter

This open access volume belongs to Springer's Soft and Biological Matter series and offers an overview of several research areas within flowing matter. It covers fluids whose internal structure is complex, ranging from nematic fluids to soft glasses, along with active matter and turbulence.

Flowing matter sits where physics, mathematics, chemistry, engineering, biology and earth sciences meet. Its methods combine disciplines to explain how large-scale behaviour arises from the coordinated motion of microscopic parts. Depending on how the particles interact, a collection of molecules or mesoscopic particles may flow like an ordinary Newtonian fluid, respond elastically like a solid, or act in more intricate ways. When the components are alive and self-propelled, they often produce complicated collective movement on a large scale. Fluids also tend toward chaos at large scales or when stirred vigorously, which makes these systems difficult to describe.

The chapters examine these phenomena across micro, meso and macro scales, aiming to deepen understanding of the basic principles of flowing matter. The book grew out of the COST Action MP1305 "Flowing Matter".