Basic Aspects Of The Quantum Theory Of Solids

Aimed at graduate students and researchers, this book covers the key aspects of the modern quantum theory of solids, including up-to-date ideas such as quantum fluctuations and strong electron correlations. It presents in the main concepts of the modern quantum theory of solids, as well as a general description of the essential theoretical methods required when working with these systems. Diverse topics such as general theory of phase transitions, harmonic and anharmonic lattices, Bose condensation and superfluidity, modern aspects of magnetism including resonating valence bonds, electrons in metals, and strong electron correlations are treated using unifying concepts of order and elementary excitations. The main theoretical tools used to treat these problems are introduced and explained in a simple way, and their applications are demonstrated through concrete examples.

Presents the main concepts and essential theoretical methods of the modern quantum theory of solids for graduate students and researchers.

The object of this textbook is to present the central principles of the quantum theory of solids to theoretical physicists generally and to those experimental solid state physicists who have had a one year course in quantum mechanics.

Quantum Theory of Solids presents a concisely-structured tour of the theory relating to chemical bonding and its application to the three most significant topics in solid state physics: semiconductors, magnetism, and superconductivity--topics that have seen major advances in recent years. This is a unique treatment that develops the concepts of quantum theory for the solid state from the basics through to an advanced level, encompassing additional quantum mechanics techniques, such as the variational method and perturbation theory. Written at the senior undergraduate/masters level, it provides an exceptional grounding in the subject.

This book develops the subject from the basic principles of quantum mechanics. The emphasis is on a single statement of the ideas underlying the various approximations that have to be used and care is taken to separate sound arguments from conjecture. This book is written for the student of theoretical physics who wants to work in the field of solids and for the experimenter with a knowledge of quantum theory who is not content to take other people's arguments for granted. The treatment covers the electron theory of metals as well as the dynamics of crystals, including the author's work on the thermal conductivity of crystals which has been previously published in English.

A modern presentation of theoretical solid state physics that builds directly upon Kittel's Introduction to Solid State Physics. Treats phonon, electron, and magnon fields, culminating in the BCS theory of superconductivity. Considers Fermi surfaces and electron wave functions and develops the group theoretical description of Brillouin zones. Applies correlation functions to time-dependent effects in solids, with an introduction to Green's functions. With 110 problems, the text is well-suited for the classroom or for self-instruction.

"Quantum Physics of the Solid State: an Introduction" Draft foreword: 26/09/03 If only this book had been available when I was starting out in science! It would have saved me countless hours of struggle in trying to apply the general ideas of the standard solid-state text-books to solve real problems. The fact is that most of the texts stop at the point where the real difficulties begin. The great merit of this book is that it describes in an honest and detailed way what one really has to do in order to understand the multifarious properties of solids in terms of the fundamental physical theory of quantum mechanics. University students of the physical sciences are taught about the fundamental the ories, and know that quantum mechanics, together with relativity, is our basis for understanding the physical world. But the practical difficulties of using quantum mechanics to do anything useful are usually not very well explained. The truth is that the application of quantum theory to achieve our present detailed understand ing of solids has required the development of a large array of mathematical tech niques. This is closely analogous to the challenge faced long ago by theoretical astronomers in trying to apply Newton's equations of motion to the heavens -they too had to develop a battery of theoretical and computational techniques to do cal culations that could be compared with observation.

This new edition presents a comprehensive, up-to-date survey of the concepts and methods in contemporary condensed matter physics, emphasizing topics that can be treated by quantum mechanical methods. The book features tutorial discussions of a number of current research topics. Also included are updated treatments of topics that have developed significantly within the past several years, such as superconductivity, magnetic impurities in metals, methods for electronic structure calculations, magnetic ordering in insulators and metals, and linear response theory. Advanced level graduate students and practicing condensed matter physicists will use the second edition of Quantum Theory of the Solid State as an important source of information. n Renormalization group theory n Integer and fractional quantum Hall effect n Transport in mesoscopic systems, and n Numerical methods in many-body theory