THEORIES AND COMPUTER-SIMULATIONS OF SELF-ASSEMBLING SURFACTANT SOLUTIONS

We review recent theoretical and computer studies on formation and dynamics of self-assembled structures in surfactant solutions. One of the important features of surfactant solutions is the hierarchical nature in the structure, where atomic (microscopic), supermolecular (mesoscopic) and macroscopic structures coexist. In view of these structures with different length scales, many theoretical as well as computer models have been proposed from different points of view. We discuss relations between these models and give a brief review of our hybrid approach which is expected to bridge microscopic and macroscopic models.