This is a collection of lectures by 11 active researchers, renowned specialists in a number of modern, promising, dynamically-developing research directions in condensed matter/solid state theory. The lectures are concerned with phenomena, materials and ideas, discussing theoretical and experimental features, as well as with methods of calculation.Readers will find up-to-date presentations of the methods of carrying out efficient calculations for electronic systems and quantum spin systems, together with applications to describe phenomena and to design new materials. These applications include systems of quantum dots, quantum gates, semiconductor materials for spintronics, and the unusual characteristics of warm dense matter.

The development of transistors, the integrated circuit, liquid-crystal displays, and even DVD players can be traced back to fundamental research pioneered in the field of condensed-matter and materials physics (CMPP). The United States has been a leader in the field, but that status is now in jeopardy. Condensed-Matter and Materials Physics, part of the Physics 2010 decadal survey project, assesses the present state of the field in the United States, examines possible directions for the 21st century, offers a set of scientific challenges for American researchers to tackle, and makes recommendations for effective spending of federal funds. This book maintains that the field of CMPP is certain to be principle to both scientific and economic advances over the next decade and the lack of an achievable plan would leave the United States behind. This book's discussion of the intellectual and technological challenges of the coming decade centers around six grand challenges concerning energy demand, the physics of life, information technology, nanotechnology, complex phenomena, and behavior far from equilibrium. Policy makers, university administrators, industry research and development executives dependent upon developments in CMPP, and scientists working in the field will find this book of interest.

This book presents articles written by leading experts surveying several major subfields in Condensed Matter Physics and related sciences. The articles are based on invited talks presented at a recent conference honoring Nobel laureate Philip W. Anderson of Princeton University, who coined the phrase "More is different" while formulating his contention that all fields of physics, indeed all of science, involve equally fundamental insights. The articles introduce and survey current research in areas that have been close to Anderson's interests. Together, they illustrate both the deep impact that Anderson has had in this multifaceted field during the past half century and the progress spawned by his insights. The contributors cover numerous topics under the umbrellas of superconductivity, superfluidity, magnetism, electron localization, strongly interacting electronic systems, heavy fermions, and disorder and frustration in glass and spin-glass systems. They also describe interdisciplinary areas such as the science of olfaction and color vision, the screening of macroions in electrolytes, scaling and renormalization in cosmology, forest fires and the spread of measles, and the investigation of "NP-complete" problems in computer science. The articles are authored by Philip W. Anderson, Per Bak and Kan Chen, G. Baskaran, Juan Carlos Campuzano, Paul Chaikin, John Hopfield, Bernhard Keimer, Scott Kirkpatrick and Bart Selman, Gabriel Kotliar, Patrick Lee, Yoshiteru Maeno, Marc Mezard, Douglas Osheroff et al., H. R. Ott, L. Pietronero et al., T. V. Ramakrishnan, A. Ramirez, Myriam Sarachik, T. Senthil and Matthew P. A. Fisher, B. I. Shklovskii et al., and F. Steglich et al.

This is the third Selecta of publications of Elliott Lieb, the first two being Stabil ity of Matter: From Atoms to Stars, edited by Walter Thirring, and Inequalities, edited by Michael Loss and Mary Beth Ruskai. A companion fourth Selecta on Statistical Mechanics is also edited by us. Elliott Lieb has been a pioneer of the discipline of mathematical physics as it is nowadays understood and continues to lead several of its most active directions today. For the first part of this selecta we have made a selection of Lieb's works on Condensed Matter Physics. The impact of Lieb's work in mathematical con densed matter physics is unrivaled. It is fair to say that if one were to name a founding father of the field, Elliott Lieb would be the only candidate to claim this singular position. While in related fields, such as Statistical Mechanics and Atomic Physics, many key problems are readily formulated in unambiguous mathematical form, this is less so in Condensed Matter Physics, where some say that rigor is "probably impossible and certainly unnecessary". By carefully select ing the most important questions and formulating them as well-defined mathemat ical problems, and then solving a good number of them, Lieb has demonstrated the quoted opinion to be erroneous on both counts. What is true, however, is that many of these problems turn out to be very hard. It is not unusual that they take a decade (even several decades) to solve.

Comprehensive and accessible coverage from the basics to advanced topics in modern quantum condensed matter physics.

The book describes a history of the vortex theory. Introduced at the dawn of science almost 2600 years ago, it had passed through five phases of accumulation of its strength by absorbing the discoveries made during the Greek civilization, the Copernicus Revolution, the age of electromagnetism, the atomic age, and the information age. During the first four phases (see Chapters 1 through 12 of this book), the development of the vortex theory followed the same misfortunate pattern. Each time, this theory managed to bring attention of a new generation of brilliant scientists, who were enchanted by a deep physical meaning of its basic concept. But, although they employed the latest advances in science, none of them was able to produce a mathematical tool making the vortex theory practically usable. The fifth phase began in 1993 with the discovery of a unique spacetime spiral element, called the toryx. The toryx is a particular case of a multiple-level dynamic spiral with a poetic name helicola that describes the paths of all moving celestial bodies in our universe. The ability of the toryx to be turned inside out made it perfect for modeling the polarized prime elements of matter. A close offspring of the toryx called the helyx turned out to be ideal for modeling the polarized prime elements of the radiation particles. This discovery led to the development of a new version of the vortex theory called Three-Dimensional Spiral String Theory (3D-SST) outlined in Chapters 13 through 16.

This volume contains the proceedings of the first NATO Science Forum "Highlights of the Eighties and Future Prospects in Condensed Matter Physics" (sponsored by the NATO Scientific Affairs Division), which took place in September, 1990, in the pleasant surroundings provided by the Hotel du Palais at Biarritz, France. One hundred distinguished physicists from seventeen countries, including six Nobellaureates, were invited to participate in the four and a half day meeting. Focusing on three evolving frontiers: semiconductor quantum structures, including the subject of the quantumHall effect (QHE), high temperature superconductivity (HiTc) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), the Forum provided an opportunity to evaluate, in depth, each of the frontiers, by reviewing the progress made during the last few years and, more importantly, exploring their implications for the future. Though serious scientists are not "prophets," all of the participants showed a strong interest in this unique format and addressed the questions of future prospects, either by extrapolating from what has been known, or by a stretch of their "educated" imagination.

Now updated—the leading single-volume introduction to solid state and soft condensed matter physics This Second Edition of the unified treatment of condensed matter physics keeps the best of the first, providing a basic foundation in the subject while addressing many recent discoveries. Comprehensive and authoritative, it consolidates the critical advances of the past fifty years, bringing together an exciting collection of new and classic topics, dozens of new figures, and new experimental data. This updated edition offers a thorough treatment of such basic topics as band theory, transport theory, and semiconductor physics, as well as more modern areas such as quasicrystals, dynamics of phase separation, granular materials, quantum dots, Berry phases, the quantum Hall effect, and Luttinger liquids. In addition to careful study of electron dynamics, electronics, and superconductivity, there is much material drawn from soft matter physics, including liquid crystals, polymers, and fluid dynamics. Provides frequent comparison of theory and experiment, both when they agree and when problems are still unsolved Incorporates many new images from experiments Provides end-of-chapter problems including computational exercises Includes more than fifty data tables and a detailed forty-page index Offers a solutions manual for instructors Featuring 370 figures and more than 1,000 recent and historically significant references, this volume serves as a valuable resource for graduate and undergraduate students in physics, physics professionals, engineers, applied mathematicians, materials scientists, and researchers in other fields who want to learn about the quantum and atomic underpinnings of materials science from a modern point of view.

Derived from lectures at the University of Freiburg, this textbook introduces solid-state physics as well as the physics of liquids, liquid crystals and polymers. The five chapters deal with the key characteristics of condensed matter: structures, susceptibilities, molecular fields, currents, and dynamics. The author strives to present and explain coherently the terms and concepts associated with the main properties and characteristics of condensed matter, while minimizing attention to extraneous details. As a result, this text provides the firm and broad basis of understanding that readers require for further study and research.

For most of the last century, condensed matter physics has been dominated by band theory and Landau's symmetry breaking theory. In the last twenty years, however, there has been the emergence of a new paradigm associated with fractionalisation, topological order, emergent gauge bosons and fermions, and string condensation. These new physical concepts are so fundamental that they may even influence our understanding of the origin of light and fermions in the universe. This book is a pedagogical and systematic introduction to the new concepts and quantum field theoretical methods (which have fuelled the rapid developments) in condensed matter physics. It discusses many basic notions in theoretical physics which underlie physical phenomena in nature. Topics covered are dissipative quantum systems, boson condensation, symmetry breaking and gapless excitations, phase transitions, Fermi liquids, spin density wave states, Fermi and fractional statistics, quantum Hall effects, topological and quantum order, spin liquids, and string condensation. Methods covered are the path integral, Green's functions, mean-field theory, effective theory, renormalization group, bosonization in one- and higher dimensions, non-linear sigma-model, quantum gauge theory, dualities, slave-boson theory, and exactly soluble models beyond one-dimension. This book is aimed at teaching graduate students and bringing them to the frontiers of research in condensed matter physics.