Hard spheres and related objects (hard disks and mixtures of hard systems) are paradigmatic systems: indeed, they have served as a basis for the theoretical and numerical development of a number of fields, such as general liquids and fluids, amorphous solids, liquid crystals, colloids and granular matter, to name but a few. The present volume introduces and reviews some important basics and progress in the study of such systems. Their structure, thermodynamic properties, equations of state, as well as kinetic and transport properties are considered from different and complementary points of view. This book addresses graduate students, lecturers as well as researchers in statistical mechanics, physics of liquids, physical chemistry and chemical engineering.
From the reviews:
"This compilation of lecture notes tries to summarize all the theoretical and numerical knowledge concerning the physics of hard-sphere systems. ... this book mainly concerns researchers who work in the domain of soft condensed matter, colloid physics, granular or sand materials, and who seek information on the recent numerical results obtained for this problem using statistical physics tools." (Jean-Yves Fortin, Mathematical Reviews, Issue 2011 g)
"This compilation of lecture notes tries to summarize all the theoretical and numerical knowledge concerning the physics of hard-sphere systems. ... this book mainly concerns researchers who work in the domain of soft condensed matter, colloid physics, granular or sand materials, and who seek information on the recent numerical results obtained for this problem using statistical physics tools." (Jean-Yves Fortin, Mathematical Reviews, Issue 2011 g)