Ne Visions on Form and Groth Fingered Groth, Dendrites, and Flames [Hardcover]

There exists a wide variety of patterns in nature, from inert matter such as crystalline dendrites and flames, to filamentous fungi and neurones in the living world. Their structural evolution during growth can be theoretically modeled in order to predict the shape of their forms, their dimensions and their growth rate.New Visions on Growth and Formaims at answering such questions by employing different theoretical approaches and providing a critical appraisal.
The book is part of the wide field of non-equilibrium statistical physics, and explores different mechanisms such as transport, interfacial tension, and chemical reactions, which govern the growth of a material. It explains the fundamental equations relating different morphological quantities, as well as the relevant experimental control parameters. From the unifying concepts arising in the theoretical approach the author proposes a tentative description of cell morphogenesis as a further application of the theory.


1. Introduction
2. Surface tension
3. First order phase transition kinetics
4. Chemical reactions
5. Simple forms
6. First instabilities
7. Forms without surface tension
8. Pattern formation and growth rate
9. Stability of a curved form
10. Evolution of forms
11. Stochastic growth forms
12. Towards morphogenesis
Author index
Subject index

The author,Pierre Pelce, is Director of Research (CNRS) at the University of Provence, Marseille, France. The translators,Jasna BrujicandLaurent Costier, are members of the Polymers and Colloids Group at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK.