New Visions on Form and Growth : Digitation, dendrites, and flames

This book deals with the patterns observed during the growth of a diverse range of systems in nature. It presents a search for the universal phenomena that govern growth, and discusses their implications on the observed structures.

There exists a wide variety of patterns in nature, from inert matter such as crystalline dendrites and flames, to filamentous fungi and neurones in the living world. Their structural evolution during growth can be theoretically modelled in order to predict the shape of their forms, their dimensions and their growth rate. ''New Visions on Growth and Form'' aims at answering such questions by employing different theoretical approaches and providing a critical appraisal. The book belongs to the wide field of non-equilibrium statistical physics, and explores different mechanisms such as transport, interfacial tension, and chemical reactions, which govern the growth of a material. It explains the fundamental equations relating different morphological quantities, as well as the relevant experimental control parameters. From the unifying concepts arising in the theoretical approach the author proposes a tentative description of cell morphogenesis as a further application of the theory.