Publisher's Synopsis
Although amphiphilic systems have attracted the interest of chemists and physicists for a long time, it is only recently that they have been studied experimentally in a systematic way. At the same time, the theoretical description of these systems has made considerable progress. This book describes that progress by focusing on three principal approaches to self-assembling amphiphilic systems: microscopic models; intermediate-length scale Ginzburg-Landau models; and large-length scale interfacial, or membrane-models. The motivating ideas behind these approaches and their advantages and disadvantages are discussed. Whenever possible, contact is made with experiment and the book begins with a summary of relevant experimental results.
