Everything about Diffusion
Transport of dissolved species from the highest to the lowest concentration region
Diffusion is the net movement of anything generally from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Diffusion is driven by a gradient in Gibbs free energy or chemical potential. It is possible to diffuse "uphill" from a region of lower concentration to a region of higher concentration, as in spinodal decomposition. Diffusion is a stochastic process due to the inherent randomness of the diffusing entity and can be used to model many real-life stochastic scenarios. Therefore, diffusion and the corresponding mathematical models are used in several fields beyond physics, such as statistics, probability theory, information theory, neural networks, finance, and marketing. Wikipedia →
🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path
- Read the overview: DiffusionA 5-minute orientation
- Skim a recent paper: Diffusion Models in Vision: A SurveyInfluential work since 2022
- Pick up a classic book: Guns, Germs, and SteelThe most-reprinted book on the subject
- Read the landmark paper: Absence of Diffusion in Certain Random LatticesCited 11,649 times
- Go sideways: Onsager reciprocal relationsA closely related topic
- Go sideways: Eddy diffusionA closely related topic
📖 Definitions
Noun The act of diffusing or dispersing something, or the property of being diffused or dispersed; dispersion.
Noun The scattering of light by reflection from a rough surface, or by passage through a translucent medium.
Noun The intermingling of the molecules of a fluid due to random thermal agitation.
Noun The spread of cultural or linguistic practices, or social institutions, in one or more communities.
🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)
Absence of Diffusion in Certain Random Lattices
Electron-Hole Diffusion Lengths Exceeding 1 Micrometer in an Organometal Trihalide Perovskite Absorber
Scale-space and edge detection using anisotropic diffusion
The random walk's guide to anomalous diffusion: a fractional dynamics approach
Brownian motion in a field of force and the diffusion model of chemical reactions
Spin Diffusion Measurements: Spin Echoes in the Presence of a Time-Dependent Field Gradient
A New Vertical Diffusion Package with an Explicit Treatment of Entrainment Processes
Tract-based spatial statistics: Voxelwise analysis of multi-subject diffusion data
🆕 Influential since 2022
Diffusion Models in Vision: A Survey
Diffusion Models: A Comprehensive Survey of Methods and Applications
T2I-Adapter: Learning Adapters to Dig Out More Controllable Ability for Text-to-Image Diffusion Models
Diffusion models in medical imaging: A comprehensive survey
SRDiff: Single image super-resolution with diffusion probabilistic models
📚 Books worth reading
Guns, Germs, and SteelJared Diamond · 1997
The World Is Flat -A Brief History OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURYThomas L. Friedman · 2005
The Tipping PointMalcolm Gladwell · 2000
Zero to OnePeter A. Thiel, Blake Masters · 2001
Presenting to winJerry Weissman · 2003- 📕Creativity and strategic innovation managementMalcolm Goodman · 2012
DiffusionEdward Cussler · 1984- 📕Smallpox, Syphilis and SalvationSheryl Persson · 2010
Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.
🔗 Related topics
- Onsager reciprocal relations In thermodynamics, the Onsager reciprocal relations express the equality of certain ratios between flows and forces in thermodynamic systems out of equilibrium…
- Eddy diffusion In fluid dynamics, eddy diffusion, eddy dispersion, or turbulent diffusion is a process by which fluid substances mix together due to eddy motion. These…
- Langevin dynamics In physics, Langevin dynamics is an approach to the mathematical modeling of the dynamics of molecular systems using the Langevin equation. It was originally…
- Euler equations (fluid dynamics) In fluid dynamics, the Euler equations are a set of partial differential equations governing adiabatic and inviscid flow. They are named after Leonhard…
- Magnetic diffusion Magnetic diffusion refers to the motion of magnetic fields, typically in the presence of a conducting solid or fluid such as a plasma. The motion of magnetic…
- Finite strain theory In continuum mechanics, the finite strain theory—also called large strain theory, or large deformation theory—deals with deformations in which strains…
- Chapman–Enskog theory Chapman–Enskog theory provides a framework in which equations of hydrodynamics for a gas can be derived from the Boltzmann equation. The technique justifies…
- Crank–Nicolson method In numerical analysis, the Crank–Nicolson method is a finite difference method used for numerically solving the heat equation and similar partial differential…