ABSTRACT

This book explains the fundamental concepts and theoretical techniques used to understand the properties of quantum systems having large numbers of degrees of freedom. A number of complimentary approaches are developed, including perturbation theory; nonperturbative approximations based on functional integrals; general arguments based on order parameters, symmetry, and Fermi liquid theory; and stochastic methods.

chapter 1|46 pages

Second Quantization and Coherent States

chapter 2|91 pages

General Formalism at Finite Temperature

chapter 3|38 pages

Perturbation Theory at Zero Temperature

chapter 4|59 pages

Order Parameters and Broken Symmetry

chapter 5|61 pages

Green’s Functions

chapter 6|36 pages

The Landau Theory of Fermi Liquids

chapter 8|47 pages

Stochastic Methods