Ralf Metzler – författare

Processes involving randomly moving particles, which react either upon encounter or via distance-dependent reaction rates, are ubiquitous in nature. A few stray examples are recombination of ions or holes and electrons, excitation energy migration and quenching, trapping of particles by other species, coagulation, binding of ligands and proteins to specific sites, chemotaxis, catalytically-induced self-propulsion, polymerization, growth of dendrites or aggregates, or nuclei of a new phase.Several decades ago, it was recognized that the kinetic behavior in some systems with reactions and random transport is strongly affected by many factors, which were not taken into account in previous studies. These are, to name but a few, fluctuations in the spatial distributions of the reactants and fluctuations of the reactivity, some essentially many-particle phenomena, effects of anomalous diffusion, molecular crowding, as well as the internal geometry of the reaction bath. Within recent years, along with a growing interest in chemical processes ocurring in biological systems or cellular environments, numerous advances have been made and considerable knowledge has been acquired. These seminal contributions are, however, scattered among many journals and no attempt has been made so far to present a unified picture.This book presents a general overview of different contemporary facets of chemical kinetics in a variety of different environments. It includes 23 seminal works and reviews on different aspects of reaction processes in chemical, physical and biophysical systems, both theoretical and experimental.

Processes involving randomly moving particles, which react either upon encounter or via distance-dependent reaction rates, are ubiquitous in nature. A few stray examples are recombination of ions or holes and electrons, excitation energy migration and quenching, trapping of particles by other species, coagulation, binding of ligands and proteins to specific sites, chemotaxis, catalytically-induced self-propulsion, polymerization, growth of dendrites or aggregates, or nuclei of a new phase.Several decades ago, it was recognized that the kinetic behavior in some systems with reactions and random transport is strongly affected by many factors, which were not taken into account in previous studies. These are, to name but a few, fluctuations in the spatial distributions of the reactants and fluctuations of the reactivity, some essentially many-particle phenomena, effects of anomalous diffusion, molecular crowding, as well as the internal geometry of the reaction bath. Within recent years, along with a growing interest in chemical processes ocurring in biological systems or cellular environments, numerous advances have been made and considerable knowledge has been acquired. These seminal contributions are, however, scattered among many journals and no attempt has been made so far to present a unified picture.This book presents a general overview of different contemporary facets of chemical kinetics in a variety of different environments. It includes 23 seminal works and reviews on different aspects of reaction processes in chemical, physical and biophysical systems, both theoretical and experimental.

This book presents cutting-edge research addressing the mathematical models used to tackle the "Target problem" as it manifests itself in a wide range of disciplines. Leading international experts from around the world describe a variety of different approaches to this truly multidisciplinary topic. Recent years have witnessed a substantial and still growing interest in understanding the general "Target problem". This encompasses a wide range of different situations in which some "agents" perform a deterministic or stochastic motion to search for a certain immobile or mobile "target". Such problems arise in many disciplines: to name but a few, computer science, the evolution of stock markets, biochemistry, bio-medicine, evolutionary games, as well as diverse areas of physics. This book with its up-to-date collection of chapters authored by leading experts in these and other fields, provides a comprehensive and complete picture in broadlyaccessible language.The book will naturally serve as a source of inspiration for further research, as well as facilitating a cross-fertilization of approaches, ideas, and research directions.

This volume provides the latest developments in the field of fractional dynamics, which covers fractional (anomalous) transport phenomena, fractional statistical mechanics, fractional quantum mechanics and fractional quantum field theory. The contributors are selected based on their active and important contributions to their respective topics. This volume is the first of its kind that covers such a comprehensive range of topics in fractional dynamics. It will point out to advanced undergraduate and graduate students, and young researchers the possible directions of research in this subject.In addition to those who intend to work in this field and those already in the field, this volume will also be useful for researchers not directly involved in the field, but want to know the current status and trends of development in this subject. This latter group includes theoretical chemists, mathematical biologists and engineers.