============================================================
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999
From: Victor Yakovenko <yakovenk@physics.umd.edu>
Subject: New time for Phys 625
Dear students interested in taking Phys625 in spring 2000,
One student has a time conflict between Phys625 and E&M on Tue,
Thu
11-12:50. I don't want overlap with the condensed matter seminar
on Thu
at 2. In order to accommodate all that, I propose to schedule
Phys625 on
Tue 1-2:50 and Thu 1-1:50. Please let me know ASAP if that causes
any
further conflicts.
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Date: November 18, 1999
From: Victor M. Yakovenko <yakovenk@physics.umd.edu>
Subject: Phys 625
Dear students registered for Phys625,
Preparing to teach Phys625 in the spring of 2000, I need to submit a
textbook order now. After examining a number of books listed
at the end
of the message, I have selected the classical book by Fetter and Walecka
"Quantum Theory of Many-Particle Systems". It is quite expensive
(my
copy has the sticker price $97.85), but I found that this book has
the
most appropriate selection of material for a beginning course in Feynman
diagrams for condensed matter. My assumption here is that most
of the
class will be learning the diagram technique for the first time, so
I
should stick to basic material, leaving more sophisticated techniques
(such as functional integrals) and applications for advanced courses
as
Phys832. I would like to cover all chapters of the book (diagram
techniques for zero and finite temperature for fermions and bosons
and
applications to plasma, electron-phonon interaction, superconductivity,
and superfluidity) except chapters 11 and 15 dealing with nuclear
physics. That leaves 13 chapters and 450 pages to be covered
in 14
weeks: roughly one chapter per week! At such a pace, it is likely
that
you will need to learn most of the material from the book, and the
classroom time will be sufficient only for discussion of selected issues
and problems. The book was written for a one-year course, but
we have
only one semester.
Also, I have changed the time and place of the course to Tuesday and
Thursday 12:30-1:45 room 1304. The original time (2-3:15) overlapped
with
the condensed matter seminar on Thursdays at 2 pm.
Please let me know if you have any strong opinions on the texbook
selection, material coverage, the new time and place, and other issues
related to the course. I plan to submit the textbook order right
after
the Thanksgivings on Monday, November 29. Please tell me if you
would
like me to order any additional books as recommended ones. None
of these
books will be required for the course, but to really master the subject,
you will likely need to look at some of these books at some points
in
your carriers. Please spread the word (forward this message)
to other
students who plan to take this course. I will post this message
on the
preliminary Web page of the course at
http://www2.physics.umd.edu/~yakovenk/teaching/phys625.spring2000/
I studied the subject by the first two books from the list:
Abrikosov, Gorkov, and Dzyaloshinskii "Quantum Field Theoretical Methods
in Statistical Physics"
Lifshitz and Pitaevskii "Statistical Physics, Part 2" (Volume 9 of the
"Course of Theoretical Physics" by Landau and Lifshitz)
Mahan "Many-Particle Physics"
Doniach and Sondheimer "Green's Functions for Solid State Physics"
Mattuck "A Guide to Feynman Diagrams in the Many-Body Problem"
Kadanoff and Baym "Quantum Statistical Mechanics"
Gross, Runge, and Heinonen "Many-Particle Theory"
Philippe Nozieres "Theory of Interacting Fermi Systems"
Negele and Orland "Quantum Many-Particle Systems"
The last book is the only one that covers functional integrals