Quantcast
  • Register
PhysicsOverflow is a next-generation academic platform for physicists and astronomers, including a community peer review system and a postgraduate-level discussion forum analogous to MathOverflow.

Welcome to PhysicsOverflow! PhysicsOverflow is an open platform for community peer review and graduate-level Physics discussion.

Please help promote PhysicsOverflow ads elsewhere if you like it.

News

PO is now at the Physics Department of Bielefeld University!

New printer friendly PO pages!

Migration to Bielefeld University was successful!

Please vote for this year's PhysicsOverflow ads!

Please do help out in categorising submissions. Submit a paper to PhysicsOverflow!

... see more

Tools for paper authors

Submit paper
Claim Paper Authorship

Tools for SE users

Search User
Reclaim SE Account
Request Account Merger
Nativise imported posts
Claim post (deleted users)
Import SE post

Users whose questions have been imported from Physics Stack Exchange, Theoretical Physics Stack Exchange, or any other Stack Exchange site are kindly requested to reclaim their account and not to register as a new user.

Public \(\beta\) tools

Report a bug with a feature
Request a new functionality
404 page design
Send feedback

Attributions

(propose a free ad)

Site Statistics

205 submissions , 163 unreviewed
5,047 questions , 2,200 unanswered
5,345 answers , 22,709 comments
1,470 users with positive rep
816 active unimported users
More ...

  Condensed matter physics for mathematicians

+ 3 like - 0 dislike
814 views

What is a good way for me to learn the basics of condensed matter physics? I'd like to get a better understanding of the fundamentals behind recent technological developments like OLEDs, applications of graphene, or get a grip on what the fractional hall effect is about. I don't expect to do research in these areas, but I would like to be able to have meaningful conversations with people working in these areas.

My background is this: I have a PhD in pure mathematics, I even studied a little solid state physics (eg. Bloch waves), QFT and a first course in String Theory, but a long time ago now. My mathematics is much stronger than my physics intuition so I'm looking for a more mathematical treatment. My lab experience is precisely zero. I'm more interested in the theoretical ideas than precise details.

Are there any books or downloadable lecture notes that might be recommended for someone in my position?


This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-03-24 05:12 (UCT), posted by SE-user Dan Piponi

asked Nov 9, 2011 in Resources and References by Dan Piponi (100 points) [ revision history ]
recategorized Apr 24, 2014 by dimension10

1 Answer

+ 4 like - 0 dislike

Here are some online lecture notes by Chetan Nayak which look pretty good:

Introductory: http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~nayak/solid_state.pdf

More advanced: http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~nayak/many_body.pdf

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-03-24 05:12 (UCT), posted by SE-user user1631
answered Nov 9, 2011 by user1631 (60 points) [ no revision ]
That first one looks within my grasp. Thanks.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-03-24 05:12 (UCT), posted by SE-user Dan Piponi

The links don't seem to work anymore. Would it be possible to update them? I haven't managed to find these texts. thanks

Your answer

Please use answers only to (at least partly) answer questions. To comment, discuss, or ask for clarification, leave a comment instead.
To mask links under text, please type your text, highlight it, and click the "link" button. You can then enter your link URL.
Please consult the FAQ for as to how to format your post.
This is the answer box; if you want to write a comment instead, please use the 'add comment' button.
Live preview (may slow down editor)   Preview
Your name to display (optional):
Privacy: Your email address will only be used for sending these notifications.
Anti-spam verification:
If you are a human please identify the position of the character covered by the symbol $\varnothing$ in the following word:
p$\hbar$ys$\varnothing$csOverflow
Then drag the red bullet below over the corresponding character of our banner. When you drop it there, the bullet changes to green (on slow internet connections after a few seconds).
Please complete the anti-spam verification




user contributions licensed under cc by-sa 3.0 with attribution required

Your rights
...