Aggregation Phenomena in Complex Systems

Aggregation phenomena such as the formation of droplets at the gas-liquid phase transition play a major role in a variety of processes in nature and technology.

This comprehensive text introduces the reader to the physics of aggregation phenomena. The first part gives a brief survey of the physics of highly nonlinear, complex systems and the basic methods of their description. Different analytical theories (nucleation and growth, spinodal decomposition etc.) are discussed in detail, and an overview on computer simulation methods (stochastic approaches, Monte Carlo methods, cellular automata models) of aggregation phenomena is presented. A separate chapter is devoted to the concepts of self similarity and self-organized criticality.

The second part presents applications to different specific processes (nucleation and growth in expanding matter, multifragmentation in nuclear collisions, evolution of the element size distribution in the early universe, segregation in porous materials, spinodal decomposition in adiabatically isolated systems, aggregation in traffic flow).

An inspiring reading, this volume serves also as a source of recent information in the highly exciting and rapidly developing field of the analysis of complex systems.

Aggregation phenomena such as the formation of droplets at the gas-liquid phase transition, the formation of molecular clusters such as Buckminster Fullerenes, or the formation of fractal "oil fingers" in porous media like "fractured rock" play a major role in fundamental scientific research and technical processes. This book introduces the physics of aggregation phenomena and includes numerical computer simulations and concepts from the theory of fractals. It describes the recent experiments which have led to innovative insights into these processes.