Bücher der Reihe Graduate Texts in Contemporary Physics

Intended for beginning graduate students or advanced undergraduates, this text covers the statistical basis of thermodynamics, including examples from solid-state physics. It also treats some topics of more recent interest such as phase transitions and non-equilibrium phenomena. The presentation introducesmodern concepts, such as the thermodynamic limit and equivalence of Gibbs ensembles, and uses simple models (ideal gas, Einstein solid, simple paramagnet) and many examples to make the mathematical ideas clear. Frequently used mathematical methods are discussed in detail and reviews in an appendix. The book begins with a review of statistical methods and classical thermodynamics, making it suitable for students from a variety of backgrounds. Statistical mechanics is formulated in the microcanonical ensemble; some simple arguments and many examples are used to construct th canonical and grand-canonical ensembles. The discussion of quantum statistical mechanics includes Bose and Fermi ideal gases, the Bose-Einstein condensation, blackbody radiation, phonons and magnons. The van der Waals and Curoe-Weiss phenomenological models are used to illustrate the classical theories of phase transitions and critical phenomena; modern developments are intorducted with discussions of the Ising model, scaling theory, and renormalization-group ideas. The book concludes withy two chapters on nonequilibrium phenomena: one using Boltzmann's kinetic approach, and the other based on stochastic methods. Exercises at the end of each chapter are an integral part of the course, clarifying and extending topics discussed in the text. Hints and solutions can be found on the author's web site.

One of the most exciting developments in modern physics has been the discovery of the new class of oxide materials with high superconducting transition temperature. Systems with Tc well above liquid nitrogen temperature are already a reality and higher Tc's are anticipated. Indeed, the idea of a room-temperature superconductor, which just a short time ago was considered science fiction, appears to be a distinctly possible outcome of materials research. To address the need to train students and scientists for research in this exciting field, Jeffrey W. Lynn and colleagues at the University of Maryland, College Park, as well as other superconductivity experts from around the U.S., taught a graduate-level course in the fall of 1987, from which the chapters in this book were drawn. Subjects included are: Survey of superconductivity (J. Lynn).- The theory of type-II superconductivity (D. Belitz).- The Josephson effect (P. Ferrell).- Crystallography (A. Santoro).- Electronic structure (C.P. Wang).- Magnetic properties and interactions (J. Lynn).- Synthesis and diamagnetic properties (R. Shelton).- Electron pairing (P. Allen).- Superconducting devices (F. Bedard).- Superconducting properties (J. Crow, N.-P. Ong).

Building on Wilson's renormalization group, the authors have developed a unified approach that not only reproduces known results but also yields new results. A systematic exposition of the contemporary theory of phase transitions, the book includes detailed discussions of phenomena in Heisenberg magnets, granular super-conducting alloys, anisotropic systems of dipoles, and liquid-vapor transitions. Suitable for advanced undergraduates as well as graduate students in physics, the text assumes some knowledge of statistical mechanics, but is otherwise self-contained.

Filling an important gap in the literature, this comprehensive text develops conformal field theory from first principles. The treatment is self-contained, pedagogical, and exhaustive, and includes a great deal of background material on quantum field theory, statistical mechanics, Lie algebras and affine Lie algebras. The many exercises, with a wide spectrum of difficulty and subjects, complement and in many cases extend the text. The text is thus not only an excellent tool for classroom teaching but also for individual study. Intended primarily for graduate students and researchers in theoretical high-energy physics, mathematical physics, condensed matter theory, statistical physics, the book will also be of interest in other areas of theoretical physics and mathematics. It will prepare the reader for original research in this very active field of theoretical and mathematical physics.

Intended for graduate students in physics and related fields, this text is a self contained treatment of the physics of many-body systems from the point of view of condensed matter. The approach, quite traditionally, uses the mathematical formalism of quasiparticles and Green's functions. In particular, it covers all the important diagram techniques for normal and superconducting systems, including the zero- temperature perturbation theory, and the Matsubara, Keldysh, and Nambu -Gor'kov formalisms. The aim is not to be exhaustive, but to present just enough detail to enable the student to follow the current research literature or to apply the techniques to new problems. Many of the examples are drawn from mesoscopic physics, which deals with systems small enough that quantum coherence is maintained throughout their volume, and which therefore provides an ideal testing ground for many-body theories. The book begins by introducing the Green's function for one-particle systems (using Feynman path integrals), general perturbation theory, and second quantization. It then turns to the usual zero-temperature formalism, discussing the properties and physical meaning of the Green's function for many-body systems and then developing the diagram techniques of perturbation theory. The theory is extended to finite temperatures, including a discussion of the Matsubara formalism as well as the Keldysh technique for essentially nonequilibrium systems. The final chapter is devoted to applications of the techniques to superconductivity, incuding discussions of the superconducting phase transition, elementary excitations, transport, Andreev reflections, and Josephson junctions. Problems at the end of each chapter help to guide learning an to

This book is intended to provide a general introduction to the physics of quantized fields and many-body physics. It is based on a two-semester sequence of courses taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign at various times between 1985 and 1997. The students taking all or part of the sequence had interests ranging from particle and nuclear theory through quantum optics to condensed matter physics experiment. The book does not cover as much ground as some texts. This is because I have tried to concentrate on the basic conceptual issues that many students find difficult. For a computation-method oriented course an instructor would probably wish to suplement this book with a more comprehensive and specialized text such as Peskin and Schroeder An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory, which is intended for particle theorists, or perhaps the venerable Quantum Theory of Many-Particle Systems by Fetter and Walecka. The most natural distribution of the material if the book is used for a two-semster course is as follows: 1 st Semester: Chapters 1-11. 2nd semester: Chapters 12-18.

This book is intended to provide a cross-disciplinary study of the physical prop­ erties of complex fluids, solids, and interfaces as a function of their mesoscopic structures. Because of the disorder and dissipate nature of these structures, em­ phasis is placed on nonequilibrium phenomena. These phenomena are the active research areas of soft condensed matter, and it is impossible to cover them all in one book. Therefore, we have limited the scope by selecting a variety of important current systems that (l) present high values to both science and technology on the basis of my own preference and expertise and (2) have not been put together coherently in the form of a book. We then show the underlying connections and parallels between topics as diverse as critical phenomena in colloidal dynamics, glass state relaxation and deformation, reinforced polymer composites, molecular level mixing in nanocomposites, and microscopic interactions of rough surfaces and interfaces. At the same time, each chapter is designed to be directly accessible to readers, and the need for going through the previous chapters has been kept to the minimum. It is a reasonably short book that is not designed to review all of the recent work that spans many disciplines. Instead, we attempt to establish a general framework for the fundamental understanding and the practical development of new materials that cannot be designed by the trial-and-error methods.

The theoretical basis and the relevant experimental knowledge underlying our present understanding of the electrical and optical properties of semiconductor heterostructures.

This book goes beyond the scope of other works in the field with its thorough treatment of applications in a wide variety of disciplines. The third edition features a new section on constants of motion and symmetry and a new appendix on the Lorentz-Legendre expansion.

Quantum mechanics was already an old and solidly established subject when the first edition of this book appeared in 1966.

Many experimental discoveries during the last decade, including heavy fermions, fractional quantum Hall effect, high temperature superconductivity, and quantum spin chains, are not readily accessible from the weak coupling point of view.

A gentle introduction to the physics of quantized fields and many-body physics.

Called by some "the theory of everything," superstrings may solve a problem which has eluded physicists for the past 50 years -- the final unification of the two great theories of the twentieth century, general relativity and quantum field theory.

Nuclear astrophysics as it stands today is a fascinating science. Laboratory studies of the nuclear processes involved in various astrophysical scenarios have provided fundamen tal information serving both as input for and test of astrophysical models.

This textbook covers the basic principles of statistical physics and thermodynamics. The text is pitched at the level equivalent to first-year graduate studies or advanced undergraduate studies. After reviewing the basic probability theory of classical thermodynamics, the author addresses the standard topics of statistical physics.

Building on Wilson's renormalization group, the authors have developed a unified approach that not only reproduces known results but also yields new results.

Intended for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduates with some basic knowledge of optics and quantum mechanics, this text begins with a review of the relevant results of quantum mechanics, before turning to the electromagnetic interactions involved in slowing and trapping atoms and ions, in both magnetic and optical traps.