Soft interfaces

Many of the distinctive and useful phenomena of soft matter come from its interaction with interfaces. Examples are the peeling of a strip of adhesive tape or the coating of a surface or the curling of a fibre via capillary forces or the electrically driven ow along a microchannel, or the collapse of a porous sponge. These interfacial phenomena are distinct from the intrinsic behaviour of a soft material like a gel or a microemulsion. Yet many forms of interfacial phenomena can be understood via common principles valid for many forms of soft matter. Our goal in organizing this school was to give students a grasp of these common principles and their many ramifications and possibilities. The school comprised over fifty 90-minute lectures over four weeks in July 2013. Four four-lecture courses by Howard Stone, Michael Cates, David Nelson, and L. Mahadevan served as an anchor for the program. A number of shorter courses and seminars rounded out the school.This volume presents lecture notes prepared by the speakers and submitted for publication after the school. The lectures are grouped under two main themes: Hydrodynamics and interfaces, and Soft matter.