Many-Body Theory of Solids

Book excerpt: here exists a gap in the present literature on quantum mechanics T and its application to solids. It has been difficult to find an intro ductory textbook which could take a student from the elementary quan tum mechanical ideas of the single-particle Schrodinger equations, through the formalism and new physical concepts of many-body theory, to the level where the student would be equipped to read the scientific literature and specialized books on specific topics. The present book, which I believe fills this gap, grew out of two courses which I have given for a number of years at the University of Cambridge: "Advanced Quan tum Mechanics," covering the quantization of fields, representations, and creation and annihilation operators, and "Many Body Theory," on the application of quantum field theory to solids. The first course is a final-year undergraduate physics course while the second is a joint first and fourth-year undergraduate math year postgraduate physics course ematics course. In an American context this would closely correspond to a graduate course at the masters level. In writing this book I have tried to stress the physical aspects of the mathematics preferring where possible to introduce a technique by using a simple illustrative example rather than develop a purely formal treat ment. In order to do this I have assumed a certain familiarity with solid state physics on the level of a normal undergraduate course, but the book should also be useful to those without such a background.