NaCCOC crystal


Condensed Matter Physics I

PHYS 502, Fall 2023

 

Instructor:      Prof. M. Franz [BRIM 461B, franz(at)phas(dot)ubc(dot)ca]

Lectures:
        Mo & We 14:30-16:00 in Henn 301
Office hours:
   Mo 16:30-17:30 and by appointment

Course TA:      Vedangi Pathak, [BRIM 461C,  vedangi(at)phas(dot)ubc(dot)ca ]
Office hours:   Tue 16:00-17:00 and by appointment


Textbook
(available in the bookstore):
Other useful texts (placed on reserve in the library):

Grades
will be determined based on biweekly assignments, midterm, and the final exam (30/30/40).


Course announcements:

Lecture notes:

Assignments:

*This can be viewed as a  "test assignment". If you can solve it without great difficulty you are ready for this course. If not, then you should take PHYS 474 first.
**Problem set #6 will not be collected or graded. It is however highly recommended that you still solve it -- a problem on superconductivity will be on the final. I will post the solutions on Dec. 15.

Working out the assignments is perhaps the single most important aspect of this course, absolutely essential for your understanding of the material. In order to receive credit assignments must be handed in by the end of the lecture on the due date. If you foresee a serious conflict that might prevent you from completing the problems by the due date please let me know ahead of time. I will consider extending the due date if the conflict affects several students in the class.  In fairness to other students who completed the assignment on time last minute requests for an extension will not be granted.

Group discussion of Problem Sets is encouraged, but the solutions you hand in must be your own work. This means you should not be looking at anybody's notes or assignment while writing up your solutions and you should not share your completed Problem Set with anybody else.  UBC takes academic misconduct (this includes copying of homework, cheating on exams and plagiarism) very seriously, and the penalties are stiff. Please check pages 48-49 and 54-55 of the calendar for official University regulations.



Course outline:

This course provides a graduate-level introduction to the fundamental concepts of condensed matter physics.  It is assumed that students are familiar with the basic concepts of solid state physics (e.g. crystalline lattices, Bloch bands, Drude model etc.) as covered in a typical undergraduate solid state course such as UBC's PHYS 474. In addition, working knowledge of quantum mechanics, basic statistical physics and thermodynamics will be assumed.

  1. Introduction: Solids as interacting quantum many-body systems
  2. Second quantization for fermions and bosons
  3. Electrons in solids
  4. Boson systems
  5. Electrons in a periodic potential
  6. Semiclassical theory of conduction in metals
  7. Electron-phonon interactions
  8. Elements of superconductivity
  9. Depending on time and student interest some of the following additional topics may be discussed: