We review recent advances in the theoretical, numerical, and experimental studies of critical Casimir forces in soft matter, with particular emphasis on their relevance for the structures of colloidal suspensions and on their dynamics. Distinct from other interactions which act in soft matter, such as electrostatic and van der Waals forces, critical Casimir forces are effective interactions characterised by the possibility to control reversibly their strength via minute temperature changes, while their attractive or repulsive character is conveniently determined via surface treatments or by structuring the involved surfaces. These features make critical Casimir forces excellent candidates for controlling the equilibrium and dynamical properties of individual colloids or colloidal dispersions as well as for possible applications in micro-mechanical systems. In the past 25 years a number of theoretical and experimental studies have been devoted to investigating these forces primarily under thermal equilibrium conditions, while their dynamical and non-equilibrium behaviour is a largely unexplored subject open for future investigations.

中文翻译：

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软物质中的临界卡西米尔力

我们回顾了软物质中临界卡西米尔力的理论、数值和实验研究的最新进展，特别强调它们与胶体悬浮液结构及其动力学的相关性。与软物质中作用的其他相互作用（例如静电力和​​范德华力）不同，临界卡西米尔力是有效的相互作用，其特征是可以通过微小的温度变化可逆地控制其强度，而它们的吸引力或排斥特性可以通过表面方便地确定处理或通过结构化相关表面。这些特征使得关键的卡西米尔力成为控制单个胶体或胶体分散体的平衡和动力学特性以及在微机械系统中可能的应用的优秀候选者。在过去的 25 年中，许多理论和实验研究主要致力于研究热平衡条件下的这些力，而它们的动态和非平衡行为在很大程度上是一个尚未探索的课题，有待未来的研究。