This volume contains the papers presented at the International Workshop on the Cur rent Problems in Condensed Matter: Theory and Experiment, held at Cocoyoc, More los, Mexico, during January 5-9, 1997. The participants had come from Argentina, Austria, Chile, England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Switzerland, and the USA. The presentations at the Workshop provided state-of-art reviews of many of the most important problems, currently under study, in condensed matter. Equally important to all the participants in the workshop was the fact that we had come to honor a friend, Karl Heinz Bennemann, on his sixty-fifth birthday. This Festschrift is just a small measure of recognition of the intellectualleadership of Professor Bennemann in the field and equally important, as a sincere tribute to his qualities as an exceptional friend, college and mentor. Those who have had the privilege to work closely with Karl have been deeply touched by Karl's inquisitive scientific mind as well as by bis kindness and generosity.

This text contains eight works on some contemporary problems of condensed matter physics, contributed by researchers from Argentina, Cuba, Mexico, Spain, Germany and the U.S. The topics include the spectrum of quasiregular heterostructures; tailoring empirical tight-binding models for semiconductor heterostructures calculations; vortex avalanches in Type II superconductors; quantum Heisenberg ferrimagnetic chains; finite-phonon systems in semiconducting heterostructures; the Boltzman-Loschmidts controversy; and exchange energy of a hole gas and the Thomas-Fermi-Dirac approximation. c. Book News Inc.

Now in paperback, this book provides an overview of the physics of condensed matter systems. Assuming a familiarity with the basics of quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics, the book establishes a general framework for describing condensed phases of matter, based on symmetries and conservation laws. It explores the role of spatial dimensionality and microscopic interactions in determining the nature of phase transitions, as well as discussing the structure and properties of materials with different symmetries. Particular attention is given to critical phenomena and renormalization group methods. The properties of liquids, liquid crystals, quasicrystals, crystalline solids, magnetically ordered systems and amorphous solids are investigated in terms of their symmetry, generalised rigidity, hydrodynamics and topological defect structure. In addition to serving as a course text, this book is an essential reference for students and researchers in physics, applied physics, chemistry, materials science and engineering, who are interested in modern condensed matter physics.

This is a first undergraduate textbook in Solid State Physics or Condensed Matter Physics. While most textbooks on the subject are extremely dry, this book is written to be much more exciting, inspiring, and entertaining.

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.