Condensed Matter Theory 1 Syllabus

 Instructor: Eran Sela

Email: eranst@post.tau.ac.il

Academic Year 2019/2020, 1nd semester

Number of Hours/ Credits :4

Mandatory for Cond-Mat MSc Students

1st year MSc; given every year

Course overview – short abstract

Semi-classical theory of solid state: phonons and electrons. e-e interactions, screening and Fermi liquid theory. Semiclassical dynamics, e-ph interactions, Boltzmann equation. BCS theory of Superconductivity

Assessment: coursework and grade structure

Final exam – 90% Weekly exercises - 10%

Week-by-week content, assignments and reading

Week 1: Introduction, Bloch theorem

Week 2: Brillouin zones, phonons as Goldstone bosons

Week 3: Phonons – heat capacity, density of states

Week 4: Scattering from a dynamical lattice, Mermin-Wagner theorem, Anaharmonic lattice effects

Week 5: Electronic band theory – tight binding, Nearly-free electrons

Week 6: e-e interactions: Hartree-Fock; screening, plasmons

Week 7: Fermi-liquid theory: lifetime of an electron, heat capacity, compressibility

Week 8: Fermi liquid theory: magnetic susceptibility, effective mass, Mott transition, zero sound

Week 9: Semiclassical dynamics

Week 10: Boltzmann's equation: conductivity, thermoelectric effects, anomalous skin effect. Magnetic fields: resonance, de-Hass van-Alphen effect.

Week 11: Adiabatic approach for e-ph interactions, dialectric function of electrons in a lattice; Relaxation time, resistance as a function of T

Week 12: Intro to superconductivity; Cooper pairs; BCS theory

Week 13: BCS theory (mean field, excitations, gap vs. T)