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In September 2000, the University of Bayreuth, Germany, hosted the Fourth International Meeting on Thermodi?usion (IMT4). TheIMTconferenceswerebornfromtheideaofbringingtogetherresearchers in the ?eld of thermodi?usion. Under the auspices of the European Group of Research in Thermodi?usion(EGRT)theconferenceseriesstartedin1994with IMT1 in Toulouse and has been continued every other year with IMT2 (Pau, 1996), IMT3 (Mons, 1998), and IMT4 (Bayreuth, 2000). The next conference, IMT5, will be held in 2002 in Lyngby, Denmark. Thermodi?usion,alsocalledthermaldi?usionortheLudwig-Sorete?ect,- scribes the coupling between a temperature gradient and a resulting mass ?ux. Although the e?ect was already discovered in the 19th century by Ludwig and Soret, it has gained growing interest during the last years due to improved - perimentaltechniqueslikestate-of-the-artthermogravitationalcolumns,modern opticalmethods,?owchannels,andmicrogravityexperiments,tomentiononlya few. We are still far from a detailed microscopic picture, but analytical theories have been improved and the availability of fast computers and e?cient al- rithmsfornonequilibriummoleculardynamicssimulationshasprovidedvaluable input from the theoretical side. TheIMTconferencescoverallaspectsofthermodi?usionfromfundamentals to new applications. Traditionally, the focus has been on the ?uid state, ra- ing from mixtures of simple liquids to more complex systems such as critical mixtures, electrolytes, polymers, colloidal dispersions, or magnetic ?uids. IMT4 tried to widen the scope by including a plenary lecture about thermodi?usion in ionic solids. Scienti?c input comes from diverse disciplines such as physics, chemistry, engineering, and geophysics. Sadly, Leo Kempers passed away while this book was being prepared. Many ofushavelostafriendandrespectedcolleague.Hismanuscripthasbeenbrought into its ?nal state by A. Shapiro, whom we want to thank here.

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Concepts, Theory, and Computer Simulations.- Computer Simulations of Thermal Diffusion in Binary Fluid Mixtures.- Thermodiffusion in the Critical Region.- On the Theory of the Soret Effect in Colloids.- Principle of Entropy Maximization for Nonequilibrium Steady States.- A Comprehensive Theory of the Soret Effect in a Multicomponent Mixture.- Thermodiffusion and Nonlinear Heat Equation.- Nonequilibrium Concentration Fluctuations in Binary Liquid Systems Induced by the Soret Effect.- Thermodiffusion in Ionic Solids -Model Experiments and Theory.- Hip, Hip, Soret!.- Experimental Techniques and Special Systems.- Measurement of Transport Coefficients by an Optical Grating Technique.- A Survey of the Thomaes Flow Cell Method for the Soret Coefficient.- Validity Limits of the FJO Thermogravitational Column Theory.- Determination of Thermodiffusion Parameters from Thermal Field-Flow Fractionation Retention Data.- Thermodiffusion of Polymer Solutions in Convectionless Cells.- Convection and Porous Media.- Soret Effect and Free Convection: A Way to Measure Soret Coefficients.- Convective Patterns in Binary Fluid Mixtures with Positive Separation Ratios.- Convective Instability of Magnetized Ferrofluids: Influence of Magnetophoresis and Soret Effect.- On the Soret-Driven Thermosolutal Convection in a Vibrational Field of Arbitrary Frequency.- Thermodiffusion in Porous Media and Its Consequences.- Soret Effect and Mixed Convection in Porous Media.- Soret Effect in Multicomponent Flow Through Porous Media: Local Study and Upscaling Process.

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From the reviews:

"Any physicist or chemist with general interest in transport phenomena but without any idea about nonisothermal transport should start reading this book ... . The present book is a carefully edited collection of conference papers which have been presented in 2000 in Bayreuth ... . it summarizes the present state of research and knowledge in a field which will offer an up-to-date-survey of both theoretical and experimental studies to interested readers with a solid background in either thermodynamics, statistical and fluid mechanics or transport theory." (J. Janek, Zeitschrift für physikalische Chemie, Vol. 217 (761-762), 2003)

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