Book Description

Solid state physics continues to be the most rapidly growing subdiscipline in physics. As a result, entering graduate students wishing to pursue research in this field face the daunting task of not only mastering the old topics but also gaining competence in the problems of current interest, such as the fractional quantum Hall effect, strongly correlated electron systems, and quantum phase transitions. This book is written to serve the needs of such students. I have attempted in this book to present some of the standard topics in a way that makes it possible to move smoothly to current material. Hence, all the interesting topics are not presented at the end of the book. For example, immediately after the first 50 pages, Anderson's analysis of local magnetic moments is presented as an application of Hartree-Fock theory; this affords a discussion of the relationship with the Kondo model and how scaling ideas can be used to uncloak low-energy physics. As the key problems of current interest in solid state involve some aspects of electron-electron interactions or disorder or both, I have focused on the archetypal problems in which such physics is central. However, only those problems in which there is a consensus view are discussed extensively. In addition, I have placed the emphasis on physics rather than on techniques. Consequently, I focus on a clear presentation of the phenomenology along with a pedagogical derivation of the relevant equations. A key goal of the detailed derivations is to make it possible for the students who have read this book to immediately comprehend research papers on related topics. A key omission in this book is magnetism beyond the Stoner criterion and local magnetic moments. This omission has arisen primarily because the topic is adequately treated in the book by Assa Auerbach.