Dynamics of Nonequilibrium Processes: Surface Adsorption, Reaction-Diffusion Kinetics, Ordering and Phase Separation, a short review contributed to the book "Trends in Statistical Physics,"

Abstract

This short review covers a wide selection of topics from a multidisciplinary area of dynamics of nonequilibrium systems in physics, chemistry, biology. Theoretical models of colloid particle and protein deposition and adhesion at surfaces, accompanied by relaxation processes, of reaction kinetics with and without diffusion, of phase coarsening and nucleation, will be surveyed. The unifying feature of these systems is the importance of fluctuations and many-body, multiparticle collective effects, in determining the dynamical behavior which is typically nonclassical.