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Contact:

Dr. Mikko Karttunen
Tel: (519) 661-2111 ext. 88790
Fax: (519) 661-3523
Email: mkarttu [at] uwo.ca

Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics, AM9579

Rough (tentative) outline:

1. Structure of ordered and disordered matter. Crystals, Bravais lattices, polymers. Reciprocal lattice. Scattering.
2. Basics of the density functional theory
3. Ornstein-Zernike equation
4. Mean field description
5. Elasticity. Lattice vibrations, harmonic theory of solids.
6. Hartree-Fock theory.
7. Elctrons and interactions
8. Phase transitions in condensed matter systems.
9. Fluids. Brownian motion, Langevin equation and the fluctuation-dissipation relations.
10. Boltzmann equation
11. Applications

Related course:

Statistical Physics

Lecturer:

Dr. Mikko Karttunen. Email: mkarttu [at] uwo.ca.

IMPORTANT: When emailing, please include 'AM9579' on the subject line.

Lectures:

• Wednesdays 10:30-11:30 in MC204
• Until Jan. 22: Thursdays 11:00-13:00 (in MC204). From Jan. 29 onwards: Mondays 12:30-14:30 (in MC15B)

• First lecture: Thursday Jan. 15, 2009 at 11:00 in MC204.
• No lectures during March 16-20 (APS March Meeting in Pittsburgh)

Exams:

1. Quiz 1: Jan. 28, 2009. Postponed until Feb. 4
2. Quiz 2: Feb. 26. 2009
3. Midterm: Mar. 12, 2009
4. Final: Apr. 16, 2009. Please notice the new date!!

Assessment:

Best of

1. 40% midterm and 60% final
2. problems sets (total of 30%), 2 quizzes (total of 10%), midterm (20%), final (40%)

The latter seems like more work, but it is considerably easier and better choice.

Material: Lectures and lecture notes.

1. Week 1 (Jan 14-15): Level test.Classification of soft matter systems.
2. Week 2 (Jan 21-22): Characterizing structure. Scattering, static correlation functions, structure factor and their relation(s). Additional recommended reading: relevant chapter in Hansen and MacDonald: Theory of simple liquids.
3. Week 3 (Jan. 26-30): Lattices, symmetry. Additional recommended reading: Ashcroft and Mermin Ch. 4 (Crystal lattices) and 5 (The Reciprocal lattice)
   • Lecture notes
4. Week 4 (Feb 2): Landau theory. Order parameter, free energy, spontaneous symmetry breaking. Including inhomogeneties. Additional recommended reading: Goldenfeld: Ch 5.
   • Lecture notes
   • Primer to Landau theory
5. Week 4 (feb 4): Quiz 1. Material up to the lectures on Feb. 2
6. Week 5 (feb 9 & 11): Introduction to superconductivity; London equations, Meissner-Ochsenfeld effect, Ginzburg-Landau theory of supercoductivity.
   • Notes on superconductivity
7. Feb 16-20: reading week
8. Feb 23: lectures postponed to Thu. Feb 26
9. Feb 26: Quiz
10. Kosterlitz-Thouless transition, topological defects. Lecture notes.
11. Quantum Hall Effect. Lecture notes.

Recommended reading:

1. Ashcroft and Mermin: Solid State Physics [important: you'll need this or Kittel's Solid State Physics or comparable]
2. Hansen and MacDonald: Theory of Simple Liquids
3. M.P. Marder: Condensed Matter Physics
4. Chaikin and Lubensky: Principles of Condensed Matter Physics

Academic integrity:

Working together is encouraged. Copying, plagiarism and cheating of any kind is absolutely forbidden.

On-line material & problem sets for winter/spring 2009

• Problem sets:
  • Problem set 1. Due: By 6:00 pm, Friday Jan. 30, 2009.
  • Problem set 2. Due: By 6:00 pm, Friday Feb. 6, 2009.
  • Problem set 3. Due: By 6:00 pm, Monday Feb. 16, 2009.
  • Problem set 4. Due: By 6:00 pm, Tuesday Mar. 3, 2009.
  • Problem set 5. Due: By 6:00 pm, Tuesday Mar. 23, 2009.
  • No new problem sets.