Discrete Simulation Automata: Mesoscopic Fluid Models Endowed with Thermal Fluctuations

Abstract

Until recently, theoretical hydrodynamics has largely dealt with relatively simple fluids which admit or are assumed to have an explicit macroscopic description. It has been highly successful in describing the physics of such fluids by analyses based on the Navier-Stokes equations, the classical equations of fluid dynamics which describe the motion of fluids, and usually predicated on a continuum hypothesis, namely that matter is infinitely divisible [1]. On the other hand, many real fluids encountered in our daily lives, in industrial, biochemical, and other fields are complex fluids made of molecules whose individual structures are themselves complicated. Their behavior is characterized by the presence of several important length and time scales. It must surely be among the more important and exciting research topics of hydrodynamics in the 21st century to properly understand the physics of such complex fluids.