The behaviour of magnetic impurities in metals has posed problems to challenge the condensed matter theorist over the past 30 years. This book deals with the concepts and techniques which have been developed to meet this challenge, and with their application to the interpretation of experiments. This book will be of interest to condensed matter physicists, particularly those interested in strong correlation problems. The detailed discussions of advanced many-body techniques should make it of interest to theoretical physicists in general.

A modern, graduate-level introduction to many-body physics in condensed matter, this textbook explains the tools and concepts needed for a research-level understanding of the correlated behavior of quantum fluids. Starting with an operator-based introduction to the quantum field theory of many-body physics, this textbook presents the Feynman diagram approach, Green's functions and finite-temperature many-body physics before developing the path integral approach to interacting systems. Special chapters are devoted to the concepts of Fermi liquid theory, broken symmetry, conduction in disordered systems, superconductivity and the physics of local-moment metals. A strong emphasis on concepts and numerous exercises make this an invaluable course book for graduate students in condensed matter physics. It will also interest students in nuclear, atomic and particle physics.

A large variety of materials prove to be fascinating in solid state and condensed matter physics. New materials create new physics, which is spearheaded by the international experimental expert, Prof Yoshichika Onuki. Among them, the f electrons of rare earth and actinide compounds typically exhibit a variety of characteristic properties, including spin and charge orderings, spin and valence fluctuations, heavy fermions, and anisotropic superconductivity. These are mainly manifestations of better competitive phenomena between the RKKY interaction and the Kondo effect. The present text is written so as to understand these phenomena and the research they prompt. For example, superconductivity was once regarded as one of the more well-understood many-body problems. However, it is, in fact, still an exciting phenomenon in new materials. Additionally, magnetism and superconductivity interplay strongly in heavy fermion superconductors. The understanding of anisotropic superconductivity and magnetism is a challenging problem in solid state and condensed matter physics. This book will tackle all these topics and more.

Physics of Condensed Matter is designed for a two-semester graduate course on condensed matter physics for students in physics and materials science. While the book offers fundamental ideas and topic areas of condensed matter physics, it also includes many recent topics of interest on which graduate students may choose to do further research. The text can also be used as a one-semester course for advanced undergraduate majors in physics, materials science, solid state chemistry, and electrical engineering, because it offers a breadth of topics applicable to these majors. The book begins with a clear, coherent picture of simple models of solids and properties and progresses to more advanced properties and topics later in the book. It offers a comprehensive account of the modern topics in condensed matter physics by including introductory accounts of the areas of research in which intense research is underway. The book assumes a working knowledge of quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, electricity and magnetism and Green's function formalism (for the second-semester curriculum). - Covers many advanced topics and recent developments in condensed matter physics which are not included in other texts and are hot areas: Spintronics, Heavy fermions, Metallic nanoclusters, Zno, Graphene and graphene-based electronic, Quantum hall effect, High temperature superdonductivity, Nanotechnology - Offers a diverse number of Experimental techniques clearly simplified - Features end of chapter problems

In the excitement and rapid pace of developments, writing pedagogical texts has low priority for most researchers. However, in transforming my lecture l notes into this book, I found a personal benefit: the organization of what I understand in a (hopefully simple) logical sequence. Very little in this text is my original contribution. Most of the knowledge was collected from the research literature. Some was acquired by conversations with colleagues; a kind of physics oral tradition passed between disciples of a similar faith. For many years, diagramatic perturbation theory has been the major theoretical tool for treating interactions in metals, semiconductors, itiner ant magnets, and superconductors. It is in essence a weak coupling expan sion about free quasiparticles. Many experimental discoveries during the last decade, including heavy fermions, fractional quantum Hall effect, high temperature superconductivity, and quantum spin chains, are not readily accessible from the weak coupling point of view. Therefore, recent years have seen vigorous development of alternative, nonperturbative tools for handling strong electron-electron interactions. I concentrate on two basic paradigms of strongly interacting (or con strained) quantum systems: the Hubbard model and the Heisenberg model. These models are vehicles for fundamental concepts, such as effective Ha miltonians, variational ground states, spontaneous symmetry breaking, and quantum disorder. In addition, they are used as test grounds for various nonperturbative approximation schemes that have found applications in diverse areas of theoretical physics.

Annotation The six articles are heavily weighted toward an experimental perspective, but one details a particular set of theoretical models for f-electron systems, and the introduction overviews the role of magnetism in heavy fermion materials as well as summarizing the content of each subsequent article. They in turn cover superconductors, muon spin relaxation studies of small-moment heavy fermion systems, neutron scattering, and magnetism in the praseodymium-containing cuprates. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR.

Focusing on experimental results, this updated edition approaches the problem of quantum phase transitions from a new and unifying perspective.