Physics 636: advanced solid state physics

Time and place:
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11.40am-12.55pm, Rockefeller Hall 110.

Professor: Piet Brouwer,
538 Clark Hall, tel. 58963,
brouwer@ccmr.cornell.edu.

Grader: Kaden Hazzard

Course webpage: http://www.ccmr.cornell.edu/~brouwer/p636.

Literature:
There will not be a single textbook for this course. We will make use of the following books:
Theory of Quantum Liquids, P. Nozieres and D. Pines, Perseus Books, 1999.
Introduction to Superconductivity, M. Tinkham, Dover, 2004.
The Kondo Problem to Heavy Fermions, A. C. Hewson, Cambridge University Press, 1997.
A few topics will be described in lecture notes (the Kondo problem and on a few other items); for other topics not covered in the books you'll have to rely on the notes you take in class.

There is a number of other books that you could equally well use as a reference for a part of the course:
Fundamentals of the theory of metals, A. A. Abrikosov, North-Holland, 1988.
Solid State Physics, N. W. Ashroft and N. D. Mermin, Thomson, 1976.
Basic Notions of Condensed Matter Physics, P. W. Anderson, Perseus Books, 1997.
Advanced Solid State Physics, P. Phillips, Westview Press, 2002.
Landau Fermi-Liquid Theory, G. Baym and C. Pethick, Wiley, 1991.
Superconductivity of Metals and Alloys, P. G. de Gennes, Perseus Books, 1999.
Theory of superconductivity, J.R. Schrieffer, Addison-Wesley, 1983.
Electronic transport in mesoscopic systems, S. Datta, Cambridge University Press, 1997.

All of these books are held on reserve in the Physical Sciences Library (Clark Hall).

Course syllabus and reading assignments

Office hours: Wednesdays, 4.00pm-5.45pm (following P654).

Homework:

Academic Integrity: Each student in this course is expected to abide by the Cornell University Code of Academic Integrity. You are allowed to discuss the subject and the homework problems with others. However, you should write up the homework by yourself and acknowledge all sources.

Course grade:
S/U grade option: grade based on attendance and homework.
Letter grade option: grade based on attendance, homework (60%) and an oral examination (40%).