Polymers Liquid Crystals And Low Dimensional Solids Low Dimensional Solids

Polymers, Liquid Crystals, and Low-Dimensional Solids

This book deals with three related areas having both fundamental and technological interest. In the first part, the objective is to provide a bird's eye view on structure in polymeric solids. This is then complemented by a chapter, directly technological in its emphasis, dealing with the influence of processing on polymeric materials. In spite of the technological interest, this leads to some of the current fundamental theory. Part II, concerned with liquid crystals, starts with a discussion of the physics of the various types of material, and concludes with a treatment of optical applications. Again, aspects of the theory are stressed though this part is basically phenomenological in character. In Part III, an account is given first of the use of chemical-bonding arguments in understanding the electronic structure of low-dimensional solids, followed by a comprehensive treatment of the influence of dimen sionality on phase transitions. A brief summary of dielectric screening in low-dimensional solids follows. Space-charge layers are then treated, including semiconductor inversion layers. Effects of limited dimensionality on superconductivity are also emphasized. Part IV concludes the volume with two specialized topics: electronic structure of biopolymers, and topological defects and disordered systems. The Editors wish to acknowledge that this book had its origins in the material presented at a course organized by the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste.

Polymers, Liquid Crystals, and Low-dimensional Solids Low-dimensional Solids

Many-Particle Physics

This textbook is for a course in advanced solid-state theory. It is aimed at graduate students in their third or fourth year of study who wish to learn the advanced techniques of solid-state theoretical physics. The method of Green's functions is introduced at the beginning and used throughout. Indeed, it could be considered a book on practical applications of Green's functions, although I prefer to call it a book on physics. The method of Green's functions has been used by many theorists to derive equations which, when solved, provide an accurate numerical description of many processes in solids and quantum fluids. In this book I attempt to summarize many of these theories in order to show how Green's functions are used to solve real problems. My goal, in writing each section, is to describe calculations which can be compared with experiments and to provide these comparisons whenever available. The student is expected to have a background in quantum mechanics at the level acquired from a graduate course using the textbook by either L. I. Schiff, A. S. Davydov, or I. Landau and E. M. Lifshiftz. Similarly, a prior course in solid-state physics is expected, since the reader is assumed to know concepts such as Brillouin zones and energy band theory. Each chapter has problems which are an important part of the lesson; the problems often provide physical insights which are not in the text. Sometimes the answers to the problems are provided, but usually not.