This primer is aimed at elevating graduate students of condensed matter theory to a level where they can engage in independent research. Topics covered include second quantisation, path and functional field integration, mean-field theory and collective phenomena.

Presenting the physics of the most challenging problems in condensed matter using the conceptual framework of quantum field theory, this book is of great interest to physicists in condensed matter and high energy and string theorists, as well as mathematicians. Revised and updated, this second edition features new chapters on the renormalization group, the Luttinger liquid, gauge theory, topological fluids, topological insulators and quantum entanglement. The book begins with the basic concepts and tools, developing them gradually to bring readers to the issues currently faced at the frontiers of research, such as topological phases of matter, quantum and classical critical phenomena, quantum Hall effects and superconductors. Other topics covered include one-dimensional strongly correlated systems, quantum ordered and disordered phases, topological structures in condensed matter and in field theory and fractional statistics.

This is an approachable introduction to the important topics and recent developments in the field of condensed matter physics. First, the general language of quantum field theory is developed in a way appropriate for dealing with systems having a large number of degrees of freedom. This paves the way for a description of the basic processes in such systems. Applications include various aspects of superfluidity and superconductivity, as well as a detailed description of the fractional quantum Hall liquid.

Providing a broad review of many techniques and their application to condensed matter systems, this book begins with a review of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, before moving onto real and imaginary time path integrals and the link between Euclidean quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics. A detailed study of the Ising, gauge-Ising and XY models is included. The renormalization group is developed and applied to critical phenomena, Fermi liquid theory and the renormalization of field theories. Next, the book explores bosonization and its applications to one-dimensional fermionic systems and the correlation functions of homogeneous and random-bond Ising models. It concludes with Bohm–Pines and Chern–Simons theories applied to the quantum Hall effect. Introducing the reader to a variety of techniques, it opens up vast areas of condensed matter theory for both graduate students and researchers in theoretical, statistical and condensed matter physics.

This book is a course in modern quantum field theory as seen through the eyes of a theorist working in condensed matter physics. It contains a gentle introduction to the subject and therefore can be used even by graduate students. The introductory parts include a derivation of the path integral representation, Feynman diagrams and elements of the theory of metals including a discussion of Landau–Fermi liquid theory. In later chapters the discussion gradually turns to more advanced methods used in the theory of strongly correlated systems. The book contains a thorough exposition of such non-perturbative techniques as 1/N-expansion, bosonization (Abelian and non-Abelian), conformal field theory and theory of integrable systems. The book is intended for graduate students, postdoctoral associates and independent researchers working in condensed matter physics.

For most of the last century, condensed matter physics has been dominated by band theory and Landau's symmetry breaking theory. In the last twenty years, however, there has been the emergence of a new paradigm associated with fractionalisation, topological order, emergent gauge bosons and fermions, and string condensation. These new physical concepts are so fundamental that they may even influence our understanding of the origin of light and fermions in the universe. This book is a pedagogical and systematic introduction to the new concepts and quantum field theoretical methods (which have fuelled the rapid developments) in condensed matter physics. It discusses many basic notions in theoretical physics which underlie physical phenomena in nature. Topics covered are dissipative quantum systems, boson condensation, symmetry breaking and gapless excitations, phase transitions, Fermi liquids, spin density wave states, Fermi and fractional statistics, quantum Hall effects, topological and quantum order, spin liquids, and string condensation. Methods covered are the path integral, Green's functions, mean-field theory, effective theory, renormalization group, bosonization in one- and higher dimensions, non-linear sigma-model, quantum gauge theory, dualities, slave-boson theory, and exactly soluble models beyond one-dimension. This book is aimed at teaching graduate students and bringing them to the frontiers of research in condensed matter physics.

The application of field theoretic techniques to problems in condensed matter physics has generated an array of concepts and mathematical techniques to attack a range of problems such as the theory of quantum phase transitions, the quantum Hall effect, and quantum wires. While concepts such as the renormalization group, topology, and bosonization h