Quantum Phase Transitions

Updated second edition with several new chapters, for graduates and researchers in condensed matter physics and particle and string theory.

Subir Sachdev (Author)

9780521514682, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 7 April 2011

516 pages, 104 b/w illus. 20 exercises
25.3 x 19.4 x 2.7 cm, 1.3 kg

'… a timely and well-informed update to the subject and provides graduate and advanced students with enough material to understand and tackle these very interesting systems.' Contemporary Physics

Describing the physical properties of quantum materials near critical points with long-range many-body quantum entanglement, this book introduces readers to the basic theory of quantum phases, their phase transitions and their observable properties. This second edition begins with a new section suitable for an introductory course on quantum phase transitions, assuming no prior knowledge of quantum field theory. It also contains several new chapters to cover important recent advances, such as the Fermi gas near unitarity, Dirac fermions, Fermi liquids and their phase transitions, quantum magnetism, and solvable models obtained from string theory. After introducing the basic theory, it moves on to a detailed description of the canonical quantum-critical phase diagram at non-zero temperatures. Finally, a variety of more complex models are explored. This book is ideal for graduate students and researchers in condensed matter physics and particle and string theory.

Part I. Introduction: 1. Basic concepts
2. Overview
Part II. A First Course: 3. Classical phase transitions
4. The renormalization group
5. The quantum Ising model
6. The quantum rotor model
7. Correlations, susceptibilities, and the quantum critical point
8. Broken symmetries
9. Boson Hubbard model
Part III. Non-zero Temperatures: 10. The Ising chain in a transverse field
11. Quantum rotor models: large-N limit
12. The d = 1, O(N ? 3) rotor models
13. The d = 2, O(N ? 3) rotor models
14. Physics close to and above the upper-critical dimension
15. Transport in d = 2
Part IV. Other Models: 16. Dilute Fermi and Bose gases
17. Phase transitions of Dirac fermions
18. Fermi liquids, and their phase transitions
19. Heisenberg spins: ferromagnets and antiferromagnets
20. Spin chains: bosonization
21. Magnetic ordering transitions of disordered systems
22. Quantum spin glasses
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Physics [PH], Mathematics & science [P]