Introduction to Many-Body Physics

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.

Introduction; 1. Scales and complexity; 2. Quantum fields; 3. Conserved particles; 4. Simple examples of second-quantization; 5. Green's functions; 6. Landau Fermi liquid theory; 7. Zero temperature Feynman diagrams; 8. Finite temperature many-body physics; 9. Fluctuation dissipation and linear response theory; 10. Electron transport theory; 11. Phase transitions and broken symmetry; 12. Path integrals; 13. Path integrals and itinerant magnetism; 14. Superconductivity and BCS theory; 15. Retardation and anisotrophic pairing; 16. Local moments and the Kondo effect; 17. Heavy electrons; 18. Mixed valence, fluctuations and topology; 19. Epilogue: the challenge of the future; Index.

Piers Coleman is a Professor in the Center for Materials Theory at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. A major contributor to the theory of interacting electrons in condensed matter, he invented the 'slave boson' approach to strongly correlated electron systems. He has a long-standing interest in highly correlated d- and f-electron materials, in novel forms of superconductivity and the unsolved problems of quantum criticality in metals.