This invaluable book provides a broad introduction to the fascinating and beautiful subject of many-body quantum systems that can be solved exactly. The subject began with Bethe's famous solution of the one-dimensional Heisenberg magnet more than 70 years ago, soon after the invention of quantum mechanics. Since then, the diversity and scope of such systems have been steadily growing.Beautiful Models is self-contained and unified in presentation. It may be used as an advanced textbook by graduate students and even ambitious undergraduates in physics. It is also suitable for the non-experts in physics who wish to have an overview of some of the classic and fundamental models in the subject. The explanations in the book are detailed enough to capture the interest of the curious reader, and complete enough to provide the necessary background material needed to go further into the subject and explore the research literature.
This invaluable book provides a broad introduction to the fascinating and beautiful subject of many-body quantum systems that can be solved exactly. The subject began with Bethe's famous solution of the one-dimensional Heisenberg magnet more than 70 years ago, soon after the invention of quantum mechanics. Since then, the diversity and scope of such systems have been steadily growing.Beautiful Models is self-contained and unified in presentation. It may be used as an advanced textbook by graduate students and even ambitious undergraduates in physics. It is also suitable for the non-experts in physics who wish to have an overview of some of the classic and fundamental models in the subject. The explanations in the book are detailed enough to capture the interest of the curious reader, and complete enough to provide the necessary background material needed to go further into the subject and explore the research literature.
This invaluable book provides a broad introduction to the fascinating and beautiful subject of many-body quantum systems that can be solved exactly. The subject began with Bethe's famous solution of the one-dimensional Heisenberg magnet more than 70 years ago, soon after the invention of quantum mechanics. Since then, the diversity and scope of such systems have been steadily growing.Beautiful Models is self-contained and unified in presentation. It may be used as an advanced textbook by graduate students and even ambitious undergraduates in physics. It is also suitable for the non-experts in physics who wish to have an overview of some of the classic and fundamental models in the subject. The explanations in the book are detailed enough to capture the interest of the curious reader, and complete enough to provide the necessary background material needed to go further into the subject and explore the research literature.
A key element of theoretical physics is the conceptualisation of physical phenomena in terms of models, which are then investigated by the tools at hand. For quantum many-body systems, some models can be exactly solved, i.e., their physical properties can be calculated in an exact fashion. There is often a deep underlying reason why this can be done—the theory of integrability—which manifests itself in many guises. In Beautiful models , Bill Sutherland looks at exactly solved models in quantum many-body systems, a well established field dating back to Bethe's 1931 exact solution of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain. This field is enjoying a renaissance due to the ongoing and striking experimental advances in low-dimensional quantum physics, which includes the manufacture of quasi one-dimensional quantum gases. Apart from the intrinsic beauty of the subject material, Beautiful Models is written by a pioneering master of the field. Sutherland has aimed to provide a broad textbook style introduction to the subject for graduate students and interested non-experts. An important point here is the `language' of the book. In Sutherland's words, the subject of exactly solved models `belongs to the realm of mathematical physics—too mathematical to be `respectable' physics, yet not rigorous enough to be `real' mathematics. ...there are perennial attempts to translate this body of work into either respectable physics or real mathematics; this is not that sort of book.' Rather, Sutherland discusses the models and their solutions in terms of their `intrinisic' language, which is largely as found in the physics literature. The book begins with a helpful overview of the contents and then moves on to the foundation material, which is the chapter on integrability and non-diffraction. As is shown, these two concepts go hand in hand. The topics covered in later chapters include models with δ-function potentials, the Heisenberg spin chain, the Hubbard model, exchange models, the Calogero–Sutherland models and models with ground state wavefunctions of product form. One of my favourites is chapter 7, dealing with the consistency conditions for two-body scattering operators involving the Yang-Baxter equations. The strength of the book lies in the pedagogical approach, with the underlying emphasis on integrability and the Bethe ansatz. Sutherland brings his own insights to these problems, and as such there is also something to be gained by specialist readers. Given the author's aims, the book is not meant to be a complete and historic review of the field. Rather, the intention is that the general references given will point the reader in the right direction. Sutherland quite wisely gives an up-front apology to any authors he has left out. Certainly such historical omissions can be found. Two obvious examples are the origins of the condition of non-diffraction and twisted boundary conditions. Setting such minor points aside, Beautiful Models is a most welcome book. It does a great service to a fascinating, enduring and increasingly relevant field by highlighting not only the beauty, but also the magic of integrability.
Abstract This book provides the reader with a contemporary and comprehensive introduction to Quantum Mechanics. It is suitable for beginners as well as for more advanced university students. Quantum mechanics is presented in a pedagogical fashion, with a clear logical organization. The various concepts and methods are introduced first in elementary terms, and later developed into more precise formulations. Systematic studies of approximation methods and the discussion of a wide class of physical applications follow. Part I of the book, together with the opening sections of Part II, provide adequate material for an introductory course of one semester at most universities. The rest of the book might be used in an advanced course on Quantum Mechanics. The basic material is fairly standard, even though some discussions such as those on general systems with time-dependent Hamiltonians, on metastable systems, as well as the discussions in some of the Complement sections, may not be found in other textbooks. The book also contains many original observations or new ways of illustrating even well-known subjects. In fact, the authors wish to convey in this book the sense of wonder in the logical simplicity and at the same time the beauty of subtle and far-reaching consequences of Quantum Mechanics, to young physics students in particular. Problem sets are provided at the end of each chapter, to be solved either analytically or by numerical methods. The solutions to both types of problems are given as separate pdf files or as Mathematica notebooks (there are 88 of them), all together on a CD accompanying the textbook. The presence of such a collection of numerical analyses enriches the main text and is one of the characteristic features of the book. With the many interesting systems discussed, the book will also be a useful reference for researchers and teachers. It provides the reader with a unique, enjoyable and rather complete textbook of Quantum Mechanics, destined to set a new standard for many years to come.
Including topics not traditionally covered in literature, such as (1+1)-dimensional QFT and classical 2D Coulomb gases, this book considers a wide range of models and demonstrates a number of situations to which they can be applied. Beginning with a treatise of nonrelativistic 1D continuum Fermi and Bose quantum gases of identical spinless particles, the book describes the quantum inverse scattering method and the analysis of the related Yang–Baxter equation and integrable quantum Heisenberg models. It also discusses systems within condensed matter physics, the complete solution of the sine-Gordon model and modern trends in the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz. Each chapter concludes with problems and solutions to help consolidate the reader's understanding of the theory and its applications. Basic knowledge of quantum mechanics and equilibrium statistical physics is assumed, making this book suitable for graduate students and researchers in statistical physics, quantum mechanics and mathematical and theoretical physics.
To a casual ostrich the world of quantum physics in one dimension may sound a little one-dimensional, suitable perhaps for those with an unhealthy obsession for the esoteric. Nothing of course could be further from the truth. The field is remarkably rich and broad, and for more than fifty years has thrown up innumerable challenges. Theorists, realising that the role of interactions in 1D is special and that well known paradigms of higher dimensions (Fermi liquid theory for example) no longer apply, took up the challenge of developing new concepts and techniques to understand the undoubted pecularities of one-dimensional systems. And experimentalists have succeeded in turning pipe dreams into reality, producing an impressive and ever increasing array of experimental realizations of 1D systems, from the molecular to the mesoscopic---spin and ladder compounds, organic superconductors, carbon nanotubes, quantum wires, Josephson junction arrays and so on. Many books on the theory of one-dimensional systems are however written by experts for experts, and tend as such to leave the non-specialist a touch bewildered. This is understandable on both fronts, for the underlying theoretical techniques are unquestionably sophisticated and not usually part of standard courses in many-body theory. A brave author it is then who aims to produce a well rounded, if necessarily partial, overview of quantum physics in one dimension, accessible to a beginner yet taking them to the edge of current research, and providing en route a thorough grounding in the fundamental ideas, basic methods and essential phenomenology of the field. It is of course the brave who succeed in this world, and Thierry Giamarchi does just that with this excellent book, written by an expert for the uninitiated. Aimed in particular at graduate students in theoretical condensed matter physics, and assumimg little theoretical background on the part of the reader (well just a little), Giamarchi writes in a refreshingly relaxed style with infectious enthusiasm for his subject, and readily combines formal instruction with physical insight. The result is a serious, pedagogical yet comprehensive guide to the fascinating and important field of one-dimensional quantum systems, for which many a graduate student (and not a few oldies) will be grateful. The first half of the book, chapters 1--5, is devoted to a coherent presentation of the essential concepts and theoretical methods of the field. After a basic introduction to the unique behaviour of interacting electrons in one dimension, and to early fermionic approaches to the problem, Giamarchi turns to the technique of bosonization, introducing chapter 3 with a Marxist quote: `A child of five would understand this. Send for a child of five.' This most powerful technique is presented in a step by step fashion, and serious perusal of the chapter will benefit all ages since bosonization is used extensively throughout the rest of the book. The same is true of chapter 3 where a phenomenological and physically insightful introduction is given to the Luttinger liquid---the key concept in the low-energy physics of one-dimensional systems, analogous to the Fermi liquid in higher dimensions. Chapter 4 deals with what the author calls `refinements', or complications of the sort theorists in particular welcome; such as how the Luttinger liquid description is modified by the presence of long-ranged interactions, the Mott transition (`we forgot the lattice Gromit'), and the effects of breaking spin rotational invariance on application of a magnetic field. Finally chapter 5 describes various microscopic methods for one dimension, including a brief discussion of numerical techniques but focussing primarily on the Bethe ansatz---the famous one-dimensional technique others seek to emulate but whose well known complexity necessitates a relatively brief discussion, confined in practice to the spin-1/2 Heisenberg model. In the second half of the book, chapters 6--11, a range of different physical realizations of one-dimensional quantum physics are discussed. According to taste and interest, these chapters can be read in essentially any order. Spin systems are considered in chapter 6, beginning with spin chains---Jordan--Wigner, the bosonization solution---before moving to frustration, the spin-Peierls transition, and spin ladders; and including experimental examples of both spin chain and ladder materials. Chapters 7 and 8 deal with interacting lattice fermions, the former with single chain problems, notably the Hubbard, t-J and related models; and the latter with coupled fermionic chains, from finite to infinite, including a fulsome discussion of Bechgaard salts (organic conductors) as exemplars of Luttinger liquid behaviour. The effect of disorder in fermionic systems is taken up in chapter 9, and here the reader may react: interacting systems are tough enough, why make life harder? But disorder is always present to some degree in real systems---quantum wires, for example, discussed briefly in the chapter---and its effects particularly acute in one dimension. It simply cannot be avoided, even if the problem of interacting, disordered one-dimensional systems is still a long way off being solved. The penultimate chapter deals with the topical issues of boundaries, isolated impurities and constrictions, with a primary focus on mesoscopic examples of Luttinger liquids, notably carbon nanotubes and edge states in the quantum Hall effect. Finally `significant other' examples of Luttinger liquids, namely interacting one-dimensional bosons, are considered in chapter 11; which concludes with a discussion of bosonization techniques in the context of quantum impurities in Fermi liquids---the x-ray, Kondo and multichannel Kondo problems. The quality of the product attests to the fact that writing this impressive tome was a labour of love for the author. Anyone with a serious interest in getting to grips with one-dimensional quantum systems simply needs the book on their shelves---and will have great fun reading it too.
This is undoubtedly an ambitious book. It aims to provide a wide ranging, yet self-contained and pedagogical introduction to techniques of quantum many-body theory in condensed matter physics, without losing mathematical `rigor' (which I hope means rigour), and with an eye on physical insight, motivation and application. The authors certainly bring plenty of experience to the task, the book having grown out of their graduate lectures at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen over a five year period, with the feedback and refinement this presumably brings. The book is also of course ambitious in another sense, for it competes in the tight market of general graduate/advanced undergraduate texts on many-particle physics. Prospective punters will thus want reasons to prefer it to, or at least give it space beside, well established texts in the field. Subject-wise, the book is a good mix of the ancient and modern, the standard and less so. Obligatory chapters deal with the formal cornerstones of many-body theory, from second quantization, time-dependence in quantum mechanics and linear response theory, to Green's function and Feynman diagrams. Traditional topics are well covered, including two chapters on the electron gas, chapters on phonons and electron–phonon coupling, and a concise account of superconductivity (confined, no doubt judiciously, to the conventional BCS case). Less mandatory, albeit conceptually vital, subjects are also aired. These include a chapter on Fermi liquid theory, from both semi-classical and microscopic perspectives, and a freestanding account of one-dimensional electron gases and Luttinger liquids which, given the enormity of the topic, is about as concise as it could be without sacrificing clarity. Quite naturally, the authors' own interests also influence the choice of material covered. A persistent theme, which brings a healthy topicality to the book, is the area of transport in mesoscopic systems or nanostructures. Two chapters, some fifty pages of the book, are devoted to electron transport in mesoscopic systems; the one on interacting systems is preceded by a brief account of equation of motion techniques–a relative rarity in a general text, used here to provide background to subsequent discussion of the Coulomb blockade in quantum dots. So does it work, and will it find a niche beside other established, wide ranging texts? On the whole I think the answer has to be yes. To begin with, the book is well organised and user-friendly, which must surely appeal to students (and their mentors). The chapters are typically bite-sized and digestible. Each is accompanied by a summary/outlook, which in doing just that attempts to place the specific topic in a wider context, together with a set of problems that illustrate, and in many cases expand substantially on, the basic subject matter. A particularly healthy feature of the book is the extent to which the authors have sought where possible to include physical and/or material applications of basic theory, thereby enlivening old material and enhancing appreciation of the new. The first chapter on the electron gas, for example, introduces the reader to a range of material examples, including 2D heterostructures, carbon nanotubes and quantum dots. A chapter on the formalism of Green's functions takes time out to explain how the single-particle spectral function can be measured by tunnelling spectroscopy, while discussion of impurity scattering and conductivity is refreshed by consideration of weak localization in bulk and mesoscopic systems, and the phenomenon of universal conductance fluctuations. And so on: in a text that could readily descend to the purely formal, the authors have clearly taken seriously the task of incorporating relevant, topical applications of the underlying theory. In a book as wide ranging as this any reviewer is of course bound to perceive the occasional deficiency. I felt for example that some aspects of the discussion of conductance in quantum dots, notably the Coulomb blockade and the Kondo effect, were not quite up to scratch—a touch unbalanced in coverage perhaps (no serious mention of renormalization or scaling, even perturbative), with the odd conceptual error creeping in, and the Kondo effect appearing more mysterious than it really is, possibly in part because consideration of it appears before the chapter on Fermi liquid theory, in which the effect is firmly rooted. But let me not miss the bigger picture: I don't doubt this is a pretty impressive book overall, likely to have broad appeal to budding theorists and adventurous experimentalists, either as a course textbook or—for the slave to garret or lab—as a serious source for self-study. So make a space on your bookshelves.