This textbook is designed for advanced undergraduate and early graduate students. It provides a comprehensive overview of key concepts in thermodynamics, statistical physics, solid state physics, condensed matter physics, phase transitions, and critical phenomena. Ideal for use in multiple courses within the field of condensed matter physics, this book offers a thorough review of the essential material typically covered in these courses.
Unlike many textbooks that focus heavily on many-body techniques and complex diagrammatic methods, this book presents its content in a more accessible manner. It covers a broad range of topics, including some not usually addressed in introductory courses, while maintaining a technical level that is less intricate than traditional many-body texts. This book integrates graduate-level discussions with undergraduate material and simplifies advanced topics wherever possible. For students interested in exploring more challenging subjects, the book references additional textbooks and resources, enabling them to deepen their understanding of advanced concepts and methods.
This volume, the first of two, presents readers with a microscopic description of condensed systems and is mainly concerned with single-particle properties.
Chapter 1: Introduction to macroscopic systems.
Chapter 2: Revision of
thermodynamics.
Chapter 3: Microscopic description.
Chapter 4: Classical
Statistical Physics.
Chapter 5: Stochastic processes.
Chapter 6:
Introduction to transport processes.
Chapter 7: Quantum Statistical
Physics.
Chapter 8: Crystalline structures.
Chapter 9: Lattice vibrations:
Phonons.
Chapter 10: Electronic energy bands.
Chapter 11: Linear response
theory.
Chapter 12: Electromagnetic response.
Chapter 13: Effects of
magnetic fields.
Chapter 14: Microscopic description of interactive quantum
systems.
Pedro D. Sacramento is a Professor in the Departamento de Física of Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa and a researcher at CeFEMA. He has lectured various courses in the area of Condensed Matter Physics, both at undergraduate and graduate levels. He is the co-author of two books published by IST Press, "Mecânica Quântica" and "Topologia em Matéria Condensada: Uma Introdução", written in Portuguese. The second book was also published by World Scientific with the title "Topology in Condensed Matter: An Introduction". In addition, he was co-editor of two other books published by World Scientific entitled "Topology of Strongly Correlated Systems", Proceedings of the XVIII Lisbon Autumn School, and "Strongly Correlated Systems: Coherence and Entanglement". His research has mainly focused on strongly correlated systems, integrable systems, spin coherent states, applications of quantum information techniques and topological properties to condensed matter and systems far from equilibrium. He obtained his PhD in Physics from Temple University as a Fullbright Scholar. He was a regular visitor at the Department of Physics and Astronomy of The Johns Hopkins University and has been an Associate Member of the Beijing Computational Science Research Center.
