Piers Coleman - Böcker

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.

In a remarkable career spanning more than six decades, Philip W Anderson has made many fundamental contributions to physics. As codified in his oft-quoted phrase "More is Different", Anderson has been the most forceful and persuasive proponent of the radical, but now ubiquitous, viewpoint of emergent phenomena: truly fundamental concepts that can and do emerge from studies of Nature at each layer of complexity or energy scale. Anderson's ideas have also extended deeply into other areas of physics, including the Anderson-Higgs mechanism and the dynamics of pulsars.PWA90: A Lifetime of Emergence is a volume of original scientific essays and personal reminiscences of Philip W Anderson by experts in the field, that were presented as part of "PWA90: Emergent Frontiers of Condensed Matter" meeting held at Princeton in December 2013 to highlight Anderson's contributions to physics.