Condensed Matter Theory

 

Lecturer: Prof. dr. M. I. Katsnelson

M.Katsnelson@science.ru.nl

Room HG03.062, phone 52995

 

30 hours lecture, 30 hours tutorial

 

♦ Required knowledge: Bachelor Courses “Quantum Mechanics” and “Statistical Physics”

 

♦ Goals: The course is focused on the concept of quasiparticles and many-body effects in condensed matter theory (including magnetism, superconductivity, superfluidity, metal-insulator transitions, etc.).

 

 Subjects

 

Types of condensed matter. General quantum-mechanical problem of a crystal. Adiabatic approximation.

 

Lattice dynamics. Phonons as prototype quasiparticles. Scattering by the lattice and correlation functions. Anharmonic phenomena.

 

Conduction electrons in solids. The effect of external electric and magnetic fields on the Bloch states. Zener breakdown. Quantum oscillation phenomena (de Haas-van Alphen, Shubnikov-de Haas effects). Quantum Hall effect.

 

Plasma phenomena in solids. Plasmons as an example of collective excitations. Landau theory of Fermi liquids.  Mott transitions and the restrictions of the band theory of crystals.

 

Magnetism, exchange interactions, spin waves.  Types of magnetic ordering, quantum theory of ferro- and antiferromagnets. Interaction of conduction electrons with spins. Kondo effect.

 

Superconductivity. Phenomenological theory of superconductivity. Flux quantization. Josephson effect. Cooper pairing and the BCS theory.

 

Bose-Einstein condensation and superfluidity. The model of nonideal Bose gas. Feynman variational approach to the superfluidity of He4.

 

♦ Literature

 

  S. V. Vonsovsky and M. I. Katsnelson. Quantum solid state physics.

  C. Kittel. Quantum theory of solids.  

 R. P. Feynman. Statistical mechanics.