Advanced Solid-State Physics

Catalog description

Substantial background in quantum mechanics is assumed, and some familiarity with elementary solid-state physics is helpful. 'Second quantized' notation is discussed early on and then is used extensively, but no field theory or Green function formalism is the focus is on physical phenomena rather than theoretical techniques. Topics discussed: The interacting electron gas - Hartree-Fock, RPA (random-phase-approximation), and an intro to density-functional theory, Linear réponse, plasmons, Landau Fermi liquid theory, superconductivity - phenomenology, BCS theory, Josephson junctions, and Bogoliubov-DeGennes equations, quantum magnetism - Heisenberg model for Mott insulators, Kondo screening.