Condensed matter physics studies systems in which interactions and correlations between many constituents give rise to collective behaviors and emergent phenomena. One of its main subjects of study is the solid state.
It is an extremely fertile and active field. It is also the subfield of physics that has by far the most physicists. It is a field that ranges from applications that concretely change our lives (such as semiconductors for lighting, computing, or communications) to the most abstract mathematical concepts that forge links to other disciplines (topology, high-energy physics, astrophysics, etc.), including materials chemistry.
The course and tutorials will address the following questions, among others. How is matter structured? How fast can matter be cooled as it approaches absolute zero? What makes a material conductive or insulating? Transparent or opaque? What are excitation quanta in matter? What is the shape of classical and quantum sound waves? Which quantum effects can be observed in mesoscopic conductors? How can electrons be frozen by disorder or interactions?
Current research topics in this field, which require a good understanding of this course, include coherent transport in mesoscopic systems, Anderson localization and N-body localization in disordered systems, integer and fractional quantum Hall effects, Berry phases and Bloch band topology, topological insulators and semimetals, Fermi liquid instabilities, modern aspects of quantum magnetism (spinons, Haldane gap, spin liquids, and toric code), Bose-Einstein condensation, superfluidity and superconductivity, superconducting and semiconductor quantum bits, high-temperature superconductivity, topological superconductors, and Majorana fermions. The field also has direct links to other fields, in particular ultracold atomic gases, photonic crystals, and quantum information science.
The condensed matter course introduces the basics of this field. It is therefore essential for following more specialized modules such as superconductivity, superfluidity, and magnetism; N-body quantum physics; nanophysics; and topological phases.
