Department > Lectures > Winter Term 2019/2020 > Condensed Matter Theory

Condensed Matter Theory

winter term 2019/2020
Lecturer: Maurits W. Haverkort
Link to LSF
20 participants

Lecture contents

Condensed Matter Theory I: The complexity of 10²³ particles interacting with each other in a solid give rise to many emergent phenomena one would not predict from the simple interactions between two electrons. In this lecture we will, starting from simple models and theories work our way into the contemporary theory of many particle physics.

The lecture follows for a large part the textbook of Ashcroft and Mermin, with one big difference. The formentioned text-book is based on a text over 50 years old. During the last decades new methods have emerged, often removing the need to know the full wave-function of the system to answer the problem, by using Green's functions. Whenever possible the later will be used within this lecture.

Concepts of many particle systems discused are:

The Drude Theory of Metals
The Sommerfeld Theory of Metals
Electrons in a periodic potential
Tight binding
Band-structure, Fermi-surface, Density of states, Metals, Insulators, Semiconductors
Semiconductor physics
Surface states
Phonons and disorder
Relativistic corrections - spin-orbit coupling
Phase transitions and topology

Theoretical / Mathematical tools used will be