title: The statistical mechanics of dynamic pathways to self-assembly.
abstract: This review describes some important physical characteristics of the pathways (i.e., dynamical processes) by which molecular, nanoscale, and micrometer-scale self-assembly occurs. We highlight the existence of features of self-assembly pathways that are common to a wide range of physical systems, even though those systems may differ with respect to their microscopic details. We summarize some existing theoretical descriptions of self-assembly pathways and highlight areas-notably, the description of self-assembly pathways that occur far from equilibrium-that are likely to become increasingly important.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720; email: swhitelam@lbl.gov.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Whitelam
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Jack
keywords: dynamics; phase change; thermodynamics