SERIES ON ADVANCES IN QUANTUM MANY-BODY THEORY – serie

This invaluable book contains pedagogical articles on the dominant nonstochastic methods of microscopic many-body theories — the methods of density functional theory, coupled cluster theory, and correlated basis functions — in their widest sense. Other articles introduce students to applications of these methods in front-line research, such as Bose–Einstein condensates, the nuclear many-body problem, and the dynamics of quantum liquids. These keynote articles are supplemented by experimental reviews on intimately connected topics that are of current relevance. The book addresses the striking lack of pedagogical reference literature in the field that allows researchers to acquire the requisite physical insight and technical skills. It should, therefore, provide useful reference material for a broad range of theoretical physicists in condensed-matter and nuclear theory.

This inaugural volume in a new series on quantum many-body theory contains the papers presented at the Ninth International Conference on Recent Progress in Many-Body Theories. The conference focused on the development and refinement of many-body methods. A major aim was to foster the exchange of ideas among physicists working in such diverse areas as nuclear physics, quantum chemistry, complex systems, lattice Hamiltonians, quantum fluids and condensed matter physics. A special feature was a session devoted to theories for many-electron systems in low-dimensional quantum dots, wires and electrons.

Quantum many-body theory as a discipline in its own right dates largely from the 1950's. It has developed since then to its current position as one of the cornerstones of modern theoretical physics. The field remains vibrant and active, vigorous and exciting. Indeed, its successes and importance were vividly illustrated prior to the conference by the sharing of the 1998 Nobel Prizes in both Physics and Chemistry by three many-body theorists. Two of those Nobel laureates, Walter Kohn and Bob Laughlin, delivered invited lectures at this meeting, the tenth in the series of International Conferences on Recent Progress in Many-Body Theories. This series is universally recognized as being the premier series of meetings on this subject, and its proceedings have always summarized the current state of the art through the lectures of its leading practitioners. The present volume is no exception.A major aim of this conference series has been to foster the exchange of ideas between physicists working in all the diverse fields of application of quantum many-body theory. These include nuclear and subnuclear physics, quantum fluids, strongly correlated electronic systems, and low-dimensional condensed-matter systems and materials. All of these fields and others are represented in the present volume. Other topical themes covered include density functional theory and its applications to nuclear and electronic systems, quantum dots and chaos, and trapped Bose–Einstein condensates. Through this breadth of applications the reader will get a clear illustration of the power of the tools of modern microscopic quantum many-body theory, and their usefulness both in achieving a commonality of approach and understanding, and in transferring powerful ideas from one field to another.

Quantum liquids in confined geometries exhibit a large variety of new and interesting phenomena. For example, the internal structure of the liquid becomes more pronounced than in bulk liquids when the motion of the particles is restricted by an external matrix. Also, free quantum liquid droplets enable the study of the interaction of atoms and molecules with an external field without complications arising from interactions with container walls.This volume assembles review articles that present the status of frontline research in this field in a manner that makes the material accessible to the educated, but non-specialist, reader. The articles focus on the many-body aspects of the theory of quantum liquids in confined geometry. Research is in the very satisfactory situation where several accurate approaches are available that allow one to describe these systems in a quantitative manner without modelling uncertainty and uncontrolled assumptions. For example, dynamic situations of direct experimental relevance can be modelled with high accuracy.The theoretical approaches discussed are simulation methods, those semi-analytic many-body techniques that have proved to be successful in the field, and phenomenological density functional theories. Each of these methods has strengths and weaknesses, and it is hoped that this collection of comprehensive review articles in one volume will provide sufficient material for the reader to intelligently assess the theoretical problems, and the physical predictions of the individual theories.The collection is supplemented by several articles that highlight specific experimental issues (such as neutron or atom scattering, thermodynamics, phase transitions and magnetic properties), discuss the present directions of experimental research, and formulate questions and challenges for future theoretical work.

In July 2000 a conference was held to honour the 65th birthdays of four of the leading international figures in the field of quantum many-body theory. The joint research careers of John Clark, Alpo Kallio, Manfred Ristig and Sergio Rosati total some 150 years, and this festschrift celebrated their achievements. These cover a remarkably wide spectrum. The topics in this book reflect that diversity, ranging from formal aspects to real systems, including nuclear and subnuclear systems, quantum fluids and solids, quantum spin systems and strongly correlated electron systems. The book collects more than 30 invited contributions from eminent scientists, chosen both from among the participants at the conference and from colleagues who were unable to attend but nevertheless wished to contribute. To match the high standing of the honourees, the articles are of an exceptionally high quality. Together they provide a vivid overview of current work across the spectrum of quantum many-body theory.

Quantum many-body theory as a discipline in its own right dates largely from the 1950's. It has developed since then to its current position as one of the cornerstones of modern theoretical physics. The field remains vibrant and active, vigorous and exciting. Its most powerful techniques are truly universal. They are constantly expanding to find new fields of application, while advances continue to be made in the more traditional areas. To commemorate the impending 80th birthdays of its two co-inventors, Firtz Coester and Hermann Kümmel, one such technique, namely the coupled cluster method, was especially highlighted at this meeting, the eleventh in the series of International Conferences on Recent Progress in Many-Body Theories. The history of the coupled cluster method as told here mirrors in many ways both the development of the entire discipline of microscopic quantum many-body theory and the history of the series of conferences. The series itself is universally recognised as being the premier series of meetings in this subject area. Its proceedings have always summarised the current state of the art through the lectures of its leading practitioners. The present volume is no exception. No serious researcher in quantum many-body theory or in any field which uses it can afford to be without this volume.

Cooper pairing of fermions is a profound phenomenon that has become very important in many different areas of physics in the recent past. This book brings together, for the first time, experts from various fields involving Cooper pairing, at the level of BCS theory and beyond, including the study of novel states of matter such as ultracold atomic gases, nuclear systems at the extreme, and quark matter with application to neutron stars. Cross-disciplinary in nature, the book will be of interest to physicists in many different specialties, including condensed matter, nuclear, high-energy, and astrophysics. The emphasis is on novel issues beyond ordinary BCS theory such as pairing in asymmetric systems, the polarization effect, and higher spin pairing. These topics are rarely treated at the textbook level and all of them are the subjects of intensive ongoing research. The book also considers various new techniques widely used in current research that differ significantly from the conventional condensed matter approaches described in the standard literature.

Quantum many-body theory has greatly expanded its scope and depth over the past few years, treating more deeply long-standing issues like phase transitions and strongly-correlated systems, and simultaneously expanding into new areas such as cold atom physics and quantum information. This collection of contributions highlights recent advances in all these areas by leaders in their respective fields. Also included are some historic perspectives by L P Gor'kov and S T Belyaev, Feenberg Medal Recipients at this conference, and Nobel Laureate P W Anderson gives his unique outlook on the future of physics.The volume covers the key topics in many-body theory, tied together through advances in theoretical tools and computational techniques, and a unifying theme of fundamental approaches to quantum many-body physics.

This conference series is now firmly established as one of the premier series of international meetings in the field of many-body physics. The current volume maintains the tradition of covering the entire spectrum of theoretical tools developed to tackle important and current quantum many-body problems. It aims to foster the exchange of ideas and techniques among physicists working in diverse subfields of physics, such as nuclear and sub-nuclear physics, astrophysics, atomic and molecular physics, quantum chemistry, complex systems, quantum field theory, strongly correlated electronic systems, magnetism, quantum fluids and condensed matter physics. The highlights of this book include state-of-the-art contributions to the understanding of supersolid helium, BEC–BCS crossover, fermionic BEC, quantum phase transitions, computing, simulations, as well as the latest results on the more traditional topics of liquid helium, droplets, nuclear and electronic systems. This volume demonstrates the vitality and the fundamental importance of many-body theories, techniques, and applications in understanding diverse and novel phenomena at the cutting-edge of physics. It contains most of the invited talks plus a selection of excellent poster presentations.