The Sttudy of Physics from Phase Transitions to Living Matter

Abstract

This book is aimed at advanced university students of Physics and related disciplines. It reflects our personal vision about the evolution of a research area that receives contributions from numerous disciplines: physics, mathematics, chemistry and biology, among others. We try to establish a path from the study of phase transitions to the current understanding of the behaviour of living systems. We travel this road presenting experimental and theoretical concepts on crystallography, physicochemistry of surfaces, magnetic systems, liquid crystals, polymers, statistical mechanics, superconductivity and superfluidity, growth of interfaces, fractals, non-linear systems, chaos and self-organization. Many of these topics are part of our own field of research and for this reason, their choice and approach are personal, but not exhaustive. Readers may refer to the bibliography to expand or complete the information provided.The presentation must be understood as transversal to the aforementioned disciplines, it is not intended to be a deep or complete analysis of them, only the concepts required to achieve the objective of the book are developed. However, the reader will also find simple explanations and useful data presented in an original way.Although the path from phase transitions to living systems we present is more or less accepted by the world scientific community, to traverse it in an inverse sense is an adventure still unknown, full of questions that will probably guide the investigations in the future.