Fundamentals of Condensed Matter Physics

Based on an established course and covering the fundamentals, central areas and contemporary topics of this diverse field, Fundamentals of Condensed Matter Physics is a much-needed textbook for graduate students. The book begins with an introduction to the modern conceptual models of a solid from the points of view of interacting atoms and elementary excitations. It then provides students with a thorough grounding in electronic structure and many-body interactions as a starting point to understand many properties of condensed matter systems - electronic, structural, vibrational, thermal, optical, transport, magnetic and superconducting - and methods to calculate them. Taking readers through the concepts and techniques, the text gives both theoretically and experimentally inclined students the knowledge needed for research and teaching careers in this field. It features 246 illustrations, 9 tables and 100 homework problems, as well as numerous worked examples, for students to test their understanding. Solutions to the problems for instructors are available at www.cambridge.org/cohenlouie.

Part I. Basic Concepts: Electrons and Phonons: 1. Concept of a solid: qualitative introduction and overview; 2. Electrons in crystals; 3. Electronic energy bands; 4. Lattice vibrations and phonons; Part II. Electron Intercations, Dynamics and Responses: 5. Electron dynamics in crystals; 6. Many-electron interactions: the interacting electron gas and beyond; 7. Density functional theory; 8. The dielectric function for solids; Part III. Optical and Transport Phenomena: 9. Electronic transitions and optical properties of solids; 10. Electron-phonon interactions; 11. Dynamics of crystal electrons in a magnetic field; 12. Fundamentals of transport phenomena in solids; Part IV. Superconductivity, Magnetism, and Lower Dimensional Systems: 13. Using many-body techniques; 14. Superconductivity; 15. Magnetism; 16. Reduced-dimensional systems and nanostructures; Index.

Marvin L. Cohen is University Professor of Physics at the University of California, Berkeley, and Senior Faculty Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His research covers a broad spectrum of subjects in theoretical condensed matter physics. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. He has received numerous awards, including the US National Medal of Science, the Buckley Prize and the Lilienfeld Prize of the American Physical Society, the von Hippel Award of the Materials Research Society, and the Dickson Prize in Science. He has received honorary degrees from the University of Montréal, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the Weizmann Institute of Science. He is a past President of the American Physical Society.
Steven G. Louie is Professor of Physics at the University of California, Berkeley, and Senior Faculty Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His research spans a broad spectrum of topics in theoretical condensed matter physics and nanoscience. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and an academician of the Academia Sinica of the Republic of China, Taiwan. He has won numerous awards and prizes for his work, including the Rahman Prize and the Davisson–Germer Prize of the American Physical Society, the Materials Theory Award of the Materials Research Society, and the Sustained Outstanding Research in Solid State Physics Award of the US Department of Energy. He and Marvin L. Cohen shared the Foresight Institute Richard P. Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology (Theory).