This small book on the properties of continuously distributed matter
covers a huge field. It sets out the governing principles of continuum
physics and illustrates them by carefully chosen examples. These
examples comprise structural mechanics and elasticity, fluid media,
electricity and optics, thermoelectricity, fluctuation phenomena and
more, from Archimedes' principle via Brownian motion to white dwarfs.
Metamaterials, pattern formation by reaction-diffusion and surface
plasmon polaritons are dealt with as well as classical topics such as
Stokes' formula, beam bending and buckling, crystal optics and electro-
and magnetooptic effects, dielectric waveguides, Ohm's law, surface
acoustic waves, to mention just some.
The set of balance equations for content, flow and production of
particles, mass, charge, momentum, energy and entropy is augmented by
material, or constitutive equations. They describe entire classes of
materials, such as viscid fluids and gases, elastic media, dielectrics
or electrical conductors. We discuss the response of matter to rapidly
oscillating external parameters, in particular the electric field
strength of light, in the framework of statistical thermodynamics.
Students of physics, engineering and related fields will benefit from
the clear presentation of worked examples and the variety of solution
methods, including numerical techniques. Lecturers or advanced students
may profit from the unified view on a substantial part of physics. It
may help them to embed their research field conceptually within a wider
context.
