Syllabus for Physics 515: Metals

Spring 2010

• Lecture 1: January 13, 2010. Periodic lattices in real and reciprocal space
• Reading: Ziman 1.1--1.3
• Lecture 2: January 15, 2010. Bloch's theorem and the Brillouin zone
• Reading: Ziman 1.4--1.6
• Lecture 3: January 20, 2010. Nearly free electrons and the Harrison construction
• Reading: Ziman 3.1--3.3.
• Lecture 4: January 22, 2010. Tight-binding and other methods for calculating band structures
• Reading: Ziman 3.4--3.7.
• Lecture 5: January 25, 2010. Density functional theory
• Reading: Hohenberg and Kohn, Phys. Rev. 136, B864 - B871 (1964) and Kohn and Sham Phys. Rev. 140, A1133 - A1138 (1965).
• Lecture 6: January 27, 2010. Types of solids and cohesion
• Reading: Ziman 4.1--4.3
• Lecture 7: January 29, 2010. Fermi statistics and the Sommerfeld expansion
• Reading: Ziman 4.4, 4.5, and 4.7
• Lecture 8: February 1, 2010. The Lindhard dielectric function
• Reading: Ziman 5.1--5.5
• Lecture 9: February 3, 2010. Plasma oscillations
• Reading: Ziman 5.7
• Lecture 10: February 5, 2010. Mott metal-insulator transitions.
• Reading: Ziman 5.9
• Lecture 11: February 8, 2010. Wannier functions.
• Reading: Ziman 6.1--6.4
• Lecture 12: February 10, 2010. Quasiclassical dynamics
• Reading: Ziman 6.5, 6.6, 9.1, and 9.2
• Lecture 13: February 12, 2010. Electron-phonon interaction and the deformation potential
• Reading: Ziman 6.10--6.14
• Lecture 14: February 17, 2010. Boltzmann equation and electrical conductivity I.
• Reading: Ziman 7.1--7.6
• Lecture 15: February 19, 2010. Boltzmann equation and electrical conductivity II.
• Reading: Ziman 7.12 and 7.13
• Lecture 16: February 22, 2010. Thermoelectric effects
• Reading: Ziman 7.7--7.10.
• Lecture 17: February 24, 2010. Pauli paramagnetism, local moments and the Curie-Weiss law.
• Reading: Ziman 10.1--10.3.
• Lecture 18: February 26, 2010. The exchange interaction and ferromagnetism.
• Reading: Ziman 10.4--10.5.
• Lecture 19: March 1, 2010. The Cooper pair problem.
• Reading: Ziman 11.1--11.3.
• Lecture 20: March 3, 2010. Superconducting transition temperature.
• Reading: Ziman 11.4--11.6.
• Final Exam: March 5, 2010.