9 Best Books on Condensed Matter Physics

“Structure and Dynamics: An Atomic View of Materials” Book Review: This book is concerned with a wide range of general principles that govern the behaviour of atoms in solids, and these principles are applied to the full range of types of materials known to man. The dual focus is on the structures of materials at an atomic level and on how the atoms vibrate inside solids. This dual focus comes together to explore how the atomic principles determine the behaviour and properties of materials. Attention is also given to experimental methods. The general principles include the factors that determine the packing of atoms to form the huge variety of structures, the formal description of real and reciprocal space, the types of atomic bonding, the formalism of atomic vibrations, and the theories of phase transitions. The tools covered include diffraction and spectroscopy, both laboratory and large-scale facilities.

“A Physicist’s View of Matter and Mind” Book Review: This is a highly interdisciplinary book straddling physics and complex systems such as living organisms. The presentation is from the perspective of physics, in a manner accessible to those interested in scientific knowledge integrated within its socio-cultural and philosophical backgrounds. Two key areas of human understanding, namely physics and conscious complex systems, are presented in simple language. An optional technical presentation is also given in parallel where it is needed.

“Condensed Matter Physics” Book Review: 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. 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.

“Field Theories in Condensed Matter Physics” Book Review: The application of field theoretic techniques to problems in condensed matter physics has generated an array of concepts and mathematical techniques to attack a range of problems such as the theory of quantum phase transitions, the quantum Hall effect, and quantum wires. While concepts such as the renormalization group, topology, and bosonization have become necessary tools for the condensed matter physicist, enough open problems and interesting applications remain to drive much activity in this area in the coming years. Field Theories in Condensed Matter Physics presents a comprehensive survey of the concepts, techniques, and applications of the field. Written by experts and carefully edited, the book provides the necessary background for graduate students entering the area of modern condensed matter physics. It also supplies field theorists with a valuable introduction to the areas in condensed matter physics where field theoretic concepts can be fruitfully applied.

“Band Theory and Electronic Properties of Solids” Book Review: This book provides an introduction to band theory and the electronic properties of materials at a level suitable for final-year undergraduates or first-year graduate students. It sets out to provide the vocabulary and quantum-mechanical training necessary to understand the electronic, optical and structural properties of the materials met in science and technology and describes some of the experimental techniques which are used to study band structure today. In order to leave space for recent developments, the Drude model and the introduction of quantum statistics are treated synoptically. In illustrating examples of e.g. the de Haas-van Alphen effect, the book focuses on recent experimental data, showing that the field is a vibrant and exciting one. References to many recent review articles are provided, so that the student can conduct research into a chosen topic at a deeper level. Several appendices treating topics such as phonons and crystal structure make the book a self-contained introduction to the fundamentals of band theory and electronic properties in condensed matter physics today.

“Physics of Condensed Matter” Book Review: 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).

“Condensed Matter Physics” Book Review: More than a graduate text and advanced research guide on condensed matter physics, this volume is useful to plasma physicists and polymer chemists, and their students. It emphasizes applications of statistical mechanics to a variety of systems in condensed matter physics rather than theoretical derivations of the principles of statistical mechanics and techniques. Isihara addresses a dozen different subjects in separate chapters, each designed to be directly accessible and used independently of previous chapters. Topics include simple liquids, electron systems and correlations, two-dimensional electron systems, quasi one-dimensional systems, hopping and localization, magnetism, superconductivity, liquid helium, liquid crystals, and polymers. Extensive appendices offer background on molecular distribution functions, which play important roles in the theoretical derivations.

“Condensed Matter Physics: Crystals, Liquids, Liquid Crystals, and Polymers” Book Review: Derived from lectures at the University of Freiburg, this textbook introduces solid-state physics as well as the physics of liquids, liquid crystals and polymers. The five chapters deal with the key characteristics of condensed matter: structures, susceptibilities, molecular fields, currents, and dynamics. The author strives to present and explain coherently the terms and concepts associated with the main properties and characteristics of condensed matter, while minimizing attention to extraneous details. As a result, this text provides the firm and broad basis of understanding that readers require for further study and research.

“Condensed Matter Physics: The Theodore D. Holstein Symposium” Book Review: Theodore David Holstein died May 8, 1985, at the age of 69. His research career covered 46 years. His contributions have been seminal throughout this period, beginning with his first papers with H. Primakoff in 1939 and extending to the year of his death. “Ted” earned his Ph. D. in physics from New York University in 1940, after earning his Master’s degree from Columbia University in 1936 and his B. S. from N. Y. U. in 1935. After receiving recognition while he was a graduate student for his contributions to the atomic theory of magnetism, he participated in the development of radar at the Westinghouse Research Laboratories, where he was a research physicist from 1941 to 1959. He taught on the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh from 1959 to 1965. He joined the Physics Department of the University of California, Los Angeles, where he remained until his death. Ted is survived by his wife Beverlee, his daughter Lonna Smith, his son Stuart, and his grandson Andy Smith. Ted received many prestigious awards and honors, including membership in the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sci­ offences. He received a von Humboldt fellowship for research at the University Regensburg in the Federal Republic of Germany. The Theodore D.