Abstract
Field theory is a powerful approach for understanding nonuniform systems in statistical mechanics, as well as other areas of physics. This chapter introduces the concept of a order parameter field, and then uses that concept to determine how an order parameter varies near an aligning wall, or at the interface between two ordered phases. The latter calculation leads to the concept of surface tension as the excess free energy associated with an interface.
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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
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Selinger, J.V. (2016). Field Theory for Nonuniform Systems. In: Introduction to the Theory of Soft Matter. Soft and Biological Matter. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21054-4_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21054-4_6
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Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-21053-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-21054-4
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