Continuum theory of percolation

The development of a general theory of clustering is sketched. The primary focus is on the use of the pair connectedness function in problems of correlated clustering and on the Ornstein-Zernike formalism that has been developed to evaluate this function and relate it to observed mesoscopic and macroscopic properties. The treatment stresses applications and potential applications that are directly relevant to colloid problems, especially percolation in microemulsions and gelation in polymer solutions.