Quantum Liquids: Bose Condensation and Cooper Pairing in Condensed-Matter Systems (Oxford Graduate Texts) [Hardcover]

Anthony James Leggett (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0198526431 | ISBN-13: 978-0198526438 | Publication Date: November 23, 2006

Starting from first principles, this book introduces the closely related phenomena of Bose condensation and Cooper pairing, in which a very large number of single particles or pairs of particles are forced to behave in exactly the same way, and explores their consequences in condensed matter systems. Eschewing advanced formal methods, the author uses simple concepts and arguments to account for the various qualitatively new phenomena which occur in Bose-condensed and Cooper-paired systems, including but not limited to the spectacular macroscopic phenomena of superconductivity and superfluidity; the physical systems discussed include liquid 4-He, the BEC alkali gases, "classical" superconductors, superfluid 3-He, "exotic" superconductors and the recently stabilized Fermi alkali gases.The book should be accessible to beginning graduate students in physics or advanced undergraduates.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Quantum Liquids is a book that many condensed-matter theorists can read with profit."-- Physics Today

About the Author

Professor A.J.Leggett
Macarthur Professor and Professor of Physics
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Loomis Laboratory
1110 W.Green St.
Urbana,IL 61801
USA


Anthony J.Leggett was born in London, England in March 1938.He attended Balliol College, Oxford where he majored in Literae Humaniores (classical languages and literature, philosophy and Greco-Roman history), and thereafter Merton College, Oxford where he took a second undergraduate degree in Physics. He completed a
D.Phil.(Ph.D.) degree in theoretical physics under the supervision of D.ter Haar. After postdoctoral research in Urbana, Kyoto and elsewhere he joined the faculty of the University of Sussex (UK) in 1967, being promoted to Reader in 1971 and to Professor in 1978. In 1983 he became John D. and Catherine T. Macarthur Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a position he currently holds. His principal research interests lie in the areas of condensed matter physics, particularly high-temperature superconductivity,and the foundations of quantum mechanics.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 408 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (November 23, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198526431
• ISBN-13: 978-0198526438
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,025,124 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very collection of IDEAs., May 6, 2007

By 

Kwon Sang Il "mindgames." (S. Korea) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Quantum Liquids: Bose Condensation and Cooper Pairing in Condensed-Matter Systems (Oxford Graduate Texts) (Hardcover)

It is a truely collection of insightful ideas. What is the BEC in real strognly correlated system? Most of books in this field just tell us the name of "order parameter" and "off-diagonal long-range order" but no further explanation and cites Penrose and Onsager's 1956 paper. That's all. But, here, this book explains THE IDEA what the physicist want. What is BEC, why does it occur, and how can we define it in general system?

As the title of book shows, Leggett explains superfluid and superconductor in the integrated point of view. Like the BEC chapter, he doesn't avoid the key ideas even if they are quite complicated in other's book. Moreover, Leggett give us very sharp and critical arguments about many things which are usually treated as typical or trivial in other's famous book.

One of the advantage of this book is difficulty. Most of readable books in this field are too out-of-date and old. Modern books are usually based on field theoretic formula and have tons of diagrams. But this book balances phenomenological, microscopic explanation, more over, experimental data and published in 2006. (It contains some arguments about rescent discovery such as supersolid and BEC-BCS crossover.)

In addition, the author is Nobel prize winner in 2003 about his ground-breaking papers about 3He. Hence this book not just a good book but also authoritive book. Highly recommended.