5 comments about Advanced Solid State Physics.

1. I just attended a course based on this book and all I can say is wow.
   P. Philips avoids falling into excessive formalism and manages to present
   the essence of each subject.

   Readers with preparation in the introductory S. State will certainly
   benefit from the straight and insightful treatment of the subjects.




2. The author gives a very good introduction to the topics most researchers in the Condensed Matter community are intersted in. This is good for both theorists and experimentalists as beginners. For theorists, this book gives quickly physics images, which is relatively much easier than reading all the original papers; for experimentalists, this gives very good reviews what the theorists are working about and how are they related to the real world, while NOT MUCH MATH is needed for going through this book.
   So this book helps any beginner in the Condensed Matter research to go to the frontier quickly.
   I also llike the free-style language the author used in this book --- reading the book is like talking with a friend in the tea time.
   One thing I don't like about the book is, for some critical topics (like the localizations), the author tried to explain some hard problems in an easy way, while sometimes he failed in doing it clearly and precisely. But again this book is not a math book, and the clear physics pictures it describes already make it one of the best introductory textbooks for these "advanced" topics.



3. The author gives a very good introduction to the topics most researchers in the Condensed Matter community are intersted in. This is good for both theorists and experimentalists as beginners. For theorists, this book gives quickly physics images, which is relatively much easier than reading all the original papers; for experimentalists, this gives very good reviews what the theorists are working about and how are they related to the real world, while NOT MUCH MATH is needed for going through this book.
   So this book helps any beginner in the Condensed Matter research to go to the frontier quickly.
   I also llike the free-style language the author used in this book --- reading the book is like talking with a friend in the tea time.
   One thing I don't like the book is, for some critical topics (like the localizations), the author tried to explain some hard problems in an easy way, while sometimes he failed in doing it clearly and precisely. But again this book is not a math book, and the clear physics pictures it describe already make it one of the best introductory textbooks for these "advanced" topics.



4. After the book of A/M solid state physics, there is no consensus on the most suitable and modern solid state physics textbook. One of the main reason is the rapid developements of some fancy theory, like bosonization, RG, etc after 70s. This book written by Phillips convers almost
   all the contemporary topics in condensed matter theory except the high-Tc part. On this ground, this book is worthy recommendation.



5. Condensed matter physics has been and will always be the most important branch of physics, due mostly to its role in technological developments. Advances in medicine have also depended directly on advances in condensed matter physics, along with advances in materials science and computer technology. Armies of researchers and billions of research dollars have poured into this field, and throughout its history it has been marked by brilliant developments. Many of these developments are discussed in this book, which targets a readership that already has had exposure to condensed matter physics and statistical mechanics at the elementary level. Although somewhat short considering the subject matter, the author is still able to give the details on the subjects that have given the most surprises to researchers in recent decades.
   
   For example, this book has one of the best overviews of the Kondo problem of all the current books on advanced condensed matter physics. The author presents the problem as one that will definitely need a treatment not possible in the context of mean-field theory, since the latter is mostly applicable to high temperatures. The goal is to study the affects of local magnetic moments on the transport and magnetic properties of a particular metal and how these moments behave as the temperature is lowered. Interestingly, and of great surprise when it was discovered, above the so-called Kondo temperature, the magnetic susceptibility of a magnetic impurity obeys the usual Curie law. However below the Kondo temperature it approaches a constant. Thus magnetism ceases at low temperatures, which definitely countered what was expected, namely that there is always magnetization below the Curie temperature. The analysis of the problem boils down to studying the interaction of the spin of the impurity with the conduction electrons, and the original solution by Kondo diverged at temperatures below the Kondo temperature. An approach based on the renormalization group (ala Kenneth Wilson) finally solved the Kondo problem, and this approach is discussed, along with the others that were proposed before it and based on second-order perturbation theory. These developments are discussed in the book.
   
   The treatment of the electron gas, the Hartree-Fock approximation, and plasma oscillations is fairly standard but detailed. For the noninteracting electron gas the author actually calculates the pressure in the ground state and quotes the value: one million atmospheres (!) with this coming solely from the Pauli exclusion principle. In his discussion of the Wigner solid, the author mentions, but does not discuss in detail, the experiments in the dilute two-dimensional electron gas that indicate a metal-insulator transition in this system for zero magnetic field. A reference is given however for readers who want to familiarize themselves with what was known experimentally at the time of publication. Interest in the two-dimensional electron gas has waxed and waned over the last few decades. This reviewer studied this system in the context of metal-insulator-semiconductor structures with narrow gap semiconductors in the early 1980's.
   
   Also discussed in the book, and of great interest to other areas of physics and mathematics such as the theory of exactly solved models in statistical mechanics and conformal field theory, is the topic of bosonization. The author motivates this subject by considering the case of the dynamics of the Fourier components of the electron density for the interacting electron gas in the regime where plasma oscillations exist. This dynamics is governed by a harmonic oscillator equation, which gives credence to the view that plasma oscillations can be viewed as bosonic excitations in the interacting electron gas. A natural question to ask then is whether this can be generalized, namely can one start with a system governed by Fermi-Dirac statistics and map it into one that is governed by Bose-Einstein statistics. A general procedure for doing this is unknown, but it has been done rigorously for the case of interacting electrons in one dimension. The author discusses this for the case of the one-dimensional Hubbard model, which when subjected to bosonization becomes the Luttinger liquid. He reminds the reader though that one must not impute too much to bosonization in this case since it is merely an equivalence of their equations of motion. He does note however that for the case of interacting electrons in one-dimension there is interesting physics that can be illuminated by the process of bosonization, namely that the electron in this case can be viewed as a composite particle consisting of a `holon' and a `spinon', both of which obey Bose statistics.
   
   The most interesting part of the book, and one that is full of lively discussion, is the one on localization in disordered solids. At least for Anderson localization, which was the first considered historically, the dependence on dimension is obvious, with the Anderson transition only occurring in dimensions three or more. The absence of the transition in dimensions less than three is perhaps not too surprising if one remembers the results in rigorous statistical quantum physics about the absence of phase transitions in dimensions this low. But here one is studying the occurrence of a transition between insulating and conducting regimes, which is dependent on the degree of disorder, and not the temperature (the insulator-metal transition is thus a `quantum phase transition'). It is clear from the perusal of this chapter that localization is a difficult problem whose study requires many tools, each one of these by itself insufficient to capture the entire phenomenon. Indeed, the Boltzmann transport theory cannot describe the Anderson transition, due to its insistence that the mean free path be greater than the lattice spacing. If one uses Green functions, one must compute the site self-energy, which as the author shows (but briefly) can be done but it masks the essential physics of the localization transition. Thus the author resorts to scaling theory, which via a single parameter, the conductance, completely characterizes the localization transition.

2 comments about Strategic Cost Reduction: Leading Your Hospital to Success.

1. As a former hospital administrator and now a networker with C Level Executives throughout the nation, I am keenly aware of the cost reduction pressures which hospital executives in the healthcare industry face. Rindler's approach to a principle-based culture creation around controlling costs is exactly what today's healthcare professionals at all levels need to understand and utilize in their respective money management decisions. The tools outlined in the book also address the next level of implementation as well, a feature which is unique in today's service oriented industry. I highly suggest this material.



2. Michael Rindler is a visionary. If you are in healthcare, read this book.
   C. Ellis. Marietta, GA

2 comments about Introduction to the Theory of Thermal Neutron Scattering.

1. This book provides a fairly comprehensive overview of the basic theory of neutron scattering, offering some experimental examples. Much of the mathematical rigor associated with formal scattering theory is dispensed with, making it a good introductory level reference.



2. An excellent book for learning the basics of neutron scattering, which in the process teaches much about modern methods of quantum theory applied to condensed matter. Squires provides the simplest and most concise treatment of this material I have ever seen.

No comments about Renormalization Methods: A Guide For Beginners.

No comments about Photovoltaic Materials (Series on Properties of Semiconductor Materials , Vol 1).

4 comments about Introduction to Nanotechnology.

1. This book merely presents abridged versions of other reviews on nanotechnology. For example, the chapter on self-assembly misses most if not all if the initial discoveries and describes second and third generation reports that merely duplicate the concepts with new chemical building blocks. If one reads the reviews cited at the end of the chapters one will get a better view of the respective topics.



2. I started reading this book trying to get a good initial grip on the notions and progress made in nanotechnology. This book helped me exactly as I wanted. Very clearly written it takes you through a wide range of topics and in the end one manages to form a pretty good idea about development in one area or another of this very multiform field and, more importantly, gives a sense of where to go and what to expect from a certain branch.
   Overall is a good starter and a valuable guide in nanotechnology.



3. Perhaps this book would suffice as a surface reference, but it should not be used as the primary text for any course. The coverage is sparse at best, and it seems unlikely that anyone who didn't already understand the topics covered could do so with this book alone.
   
   Perhaps it serves a purpose, but it cannot be used extensively.



4. This is probably the worst book I've ever had to read. The authors either misses the point or misunderstands the point, systematically. Most of the examples in the early parts of the book are about the authors own research, on mass spectrometry (who cares about 5nm xenon clusters in nanotech?). It has nothing to do with tuning of functional properties in materials, witch nanotechnology is really all about. The solid state physics part is very thin, and the models used (exitons and jellium) are not especially good, and they are old. The chemistry part in this book is awful, no one will pass even basic chemistry with this degree of knowledge. The parts about characterisation is ok, but all the figures is copy-pasted from articles and is not really consistent. They don't look the same and the axises is reversed on every other figure.
   
   The books definition is also strict to everything that is bigger than an atom, but smaller than 100nm is nanotechnology. This is used to justify i.e. why (the authors claim) that proteins and DNA is nanotechnology.
   
   My conclusion is: If you need an introduction to nanotechnology find another book.

5 comments about Electromagnetism.

1. Goes into much more detail than other undergraduate E&M texts, so it will never leave you hanging on the math. Discussion is also extremely clear and easy to follow. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who is taking an undergraduate E&M course.



2. I used this book for a 2 semester course in E&M. I absolutely hated it for the first semester, but it's merits became apparent during the second semester. The treatment of statics is inadequate at best, but Pollack and Stump do a great job from the chapter on Maxwell's equations on. The chapter on relativity and tensors alone makes this book a worthwhile buy. I would suggest using Griffith's for statics and Pollack and Stump for dynamics, but given the cost of both books thats probably going to be an expensive proposition.



3. Whether you are a student in engineering or physics field, you should get this book. The author is terrific in explaining things. It's complete and to-the-point. After reading this book, not only would your understanding of E/M increase tenfold, your mathematical ability strengthens along with it too!
   
   This book is not really for 100% beginner. You must be rather well versed in vector calculus.
   
   My only complaint about this book is that only about 3 pages are devoted to discussing numerical methods, which is not sufficient from my point of view. Despite this shortcoming, THIS BOOK IS BY FAR THE BEST!!! Buy it with Griffith's book, this is ALL you'll ever need to learn E/M!!



4. The authors achieved a very interesting balance between the mathematical level and the introductory nature of the book (if you don't already master the math, you will have to learn it in order to understand the text... which is good). It has a good number of worked out examples, and the problems are challenging without being unsolvable. One characteristic of these is that they require a good comprehension of the material and therefore, you will not go on to the next chapter without learning the material (hopefully). The structure of the book is pretty much standard. Mathematically, the book is not self-contained, but that does not affect my rating because it is not intended to be. With a good foundation (or book) in vector calculus and maybe a more elementary book in E&M (Griffiths? Yeah, I agree with a previous reviewer that it might be an expensive proposition), you will be more than ready to learn E&M.



5. I love this book, and I don't really like electromagnetism. Pollack and Stump use an easily understood writing style that is concise, thorough, and occasionally witty. Their use of extensive examples is great for the visual learner. This book covers a full academic year's worth of advanced electricity and magnetism courses.

5 comments about Physical Properties of Carbon Nanotubes.

1. This is a very good introductory book for all those who are thinking of doing research in the (constantly evolving) field of carbon nanotubes. It is a very didactic book and contains essential information which are very useful. Since it was written in an early stage of the research on carbon nanotubes, some of its material may look outdated, but is simply basic information over which the present knowledge on carbon nanotubes was built. I have used the information from the book heavily in my PhD. thesis, on which I am currently working.

   The book begins from the very basics: a review of the types of carbon bonds and hybridizations. Being a theorist, one of my favorite chapters is the one on the early tight-binding calculations for the electronic structure of carbon nanotubes. These calculations are immensely useful for understanding the electronic structure of carbon nanotubes. It also presents a review of the elastic properties of carbon nanotubes and of the phonon properties, as well as the group theory involved in understanding carbon nanotubes' properties.

   However, this field could not have progressed without the huge mass of experimental work done in the area. Therefore, the book contains lots of material on the experimental aspects of research in the area, like synthesis of carbon nanotubes, Raman scattering (a whole chapter is devoted to the subject) and transport experiments. This probably is the part in which the material is most outdated, since new experimental techniques and new experiments are always being devised and performed. However, the experiments described in the book provide a good starting point for having a general idea of what has been going on in the experimental area.

   Many topics, like Coulomb blockade, Luttinger liquid behavior and mechanical effects on the electronic structure are lacking since only two years since the launching of the book were enough to allow these topics to be discovered or become of interest in research. Nevertheless, the books remains (and perhaps will always be) basic reference and an almost mandatory citation in articles published on the subject in the most important scientific research magazines in the world.




2. This book gives a detailed treatment of the theory behind the physical properties of carbon nanotubes, and is written by some of the leading scientists in the field. However it cannot be recommended as an introduction to the subject of carbon nanotubes, as much of the mathematics will be beyond those without specialist knowledge of solid state physics. Also the illustrations are very poor quality. In its favour, the book is quite cheap.



3. This book of renowned scholars from MIT and from the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo provides a systematic description of the structure of carbon nanotubes and of their physical nature. The volume starts from background information on the structure and properties of graphite and related carbon materials. Based on the geometric structure of carbon nanotubes, the electronic properties and phonon dispersion relations are explained on simple physical models. The book starts from the first principles and through the physical models explains and interprets numerous experiments.

   After twobackground chapters the book continues with nine specialized topics. The geometrical structure of nanotubes is described and linked to their electronic features. A comprehensive article deals with synthesis of carbon nanotubes. The following chapter concentrates on quantization produced by confinement of electrons in one-dimensional nanotubes. Physical connections of carbon nanotubes are then discussed - their geometry and electrical conductance. Transport properties of nanotubes are analyzed in the next chapter, using quantum transport in a one-dimensional wire. Phonon modes of nanotubes follow and are treated by the zone-folding technique. Raman spectra of nanotubes are then surveyed. The volume ends with a chapter on elastic properties of nanotubes.

   The book is a well organized systematic treatise that should be enjoyed by any researcher in the field as well as by graduate students. Theories and experiments are truly organically linked in the text and this is its unique feature. The volume has 259+xii pages, lists 238 references, and also includes some useful Fortran computer codes for geometry generations. The book is published by Imperial College Press and distributed by World Scientific Publ. Co.

   ISBN: 1-86094-093-5




4. The book is very well organized but it requires a previous background on the subject. However, there are other book like "Atomic and Electronic structure of Solids" by E. Kaxiras and "Electronic Structure of Solids, The physics of the chemical bond" by Harrison that may provide all required knowledge!
   What I disliked most is that are issues left open. For example, the theory about the conductivity of carbon and CNTs is very limited.
   I would certainly recommend this book to anyone interested in the CNT structures.



5. The quality of the book is high and the delievery was fast enough for what I was looking for.

1 comments about Handbook of Radiation Effects.

1. This text details nearly everything one need to know for a basic understanding of radiation effects on electronic components and systems. Lots of very useful tables and graphs that are needed nearly daily by the radiation experts as well as the beginners in the field. Andy & Len have done a great job putting all this information in a very understandable format. A must reference/test for everyone in the Space Radiation business. Dr. Michael K. Gauthier, ICS RADIATION TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

3 comments about Quantum Theory of Solids, 2nd Revised Edition.

1. This book contains all the necessary formalism to become aquainted with many-body theory and Green's functions. The writing is clear and to the point.



2. A good book in addition to another introductory text. I covers the subject manner in an orderly fashion and reviews the theory in an intricate fashion. However, the mathematical notation is not what one would expect from other Solid State texts however the same conventions are used from his introductory book on Solid State Physics. An excellent investment for those interested.



3. It is too bad this book is out of print, for it gives a good introduction to the quantum theory as applied to condensed matter, despite the many advances that have taken place since the date of publication, such as high-temperature superconductivity, the fractional quantum Hall effect, and nanoscale physics. Therefore, if a copy can be found, it is still worth perusing and having on one's shelf. I only read the first 8 chapters of the book, so my review will be confined to them.
   
   After a brief introduction to the mathematics needed in the book, the author begins in chapter 2 with a treatment of acoustic phonons, which arise from the canonical quantization of the transverse motion of a continuous elastic line under tension. This object is handled using the Lagrangian formalism, and after finding the Hamiltonian density, employing a canonical transformation, the (bosonic) creation and annihilation operators are found: phonon excitations. Both longitudinal and transverse modes are shown to exist in general. Bogoliubov transformations are then used to show how phonons may arise in a system of weakly interacting particles. The author then derives the expression for the velocity of "second sound" in a phonon gas. Experimental evidence for second sound in liquid helium was known at the time of publication, but since then evidence has accumulated in Bose gases and in certain types of crystals, such as KTaO and SrTiO. The phenomenon of second sound has also been of considerable interest in the study of nonlinear optical phenomena in smectic liquid crystals. The author also discusses the occurence of van Hove singularities in the phonon frequency distribution function, and points to their connection with Morse theory.

   In chapter 3 the author concentrates his attention on plasmons, which arises from longitudinal excitations in an electron gas, and optical phonons in ionic crystals. He then extends the latter analysis to include the interaction of optical phonons with photons, which he also treats using quantum field theory, giving what he calls a quantum theory of a classical dielectric.

   The theory of spin waves, or "magnons" is discussed in chapter 4, wherein the author first treats ferromagnetic magnons via the consideration of the Hamiltonian consisting of nearest-neighbor exchange and Zeeman contributions. The dispersion relation for both optical and acoustical magnons in a spin system forming a Bravais lattice is derived and compared with experiment for magnetite. The author then treats antiferromagnetic magnons and discusses the zero-point sublattice magnetization and the heat capacity of antiferromagnets. He then returns to ferromagnetic magnons but from a more macroscopic point of view, treating the magnetization as a macroscopic field, rather than dealing with individual spins. Lastly, he considers the excitation of ferromagnetic magnons by parallel pumping and the temperature dependence of effective exchange.

   After a short review of the Hartree-Fock approximation in chapter 5, the author considers the all-important electron gas in chapter 6. The electron gas, particularly in two dimensions, has been the subject of great interest since this book was first published, not only because of its technological importance, but also its role in the quantum Hall effect and the fractional quantum Hall effect. Although density functional and renormalization group methods are the current favored ones for studying the electron gas, readers can still gain much from the reading of the chapter. The author concentrates his attention on the approximate calculation of the correlation energy of the degenerate electron gas, particularly at high density. To do this he uses the self-consistent field approach and he exploits the frequency and wavevector dielectric constant as a tool for studying many-body interactions. Several bread-and-butter topics in quantum many-body theory appear in this chapter, such as the linked cluster expansion, which appear in other more complicated (relativistic) contexts, such as high energy physics.

   The author introduces polarons in chapter 7 as a consequence of any deformation of the ideal periodic lattice of positive ion cores on the motion of conduction electrons, and notes that even the zero-point motion of phonons effects this motion. The interaction of an electron with the lattice results in a "lattice polarization field" around the electron, and the resulting composite particle is the polaron, which, as expected, has a larger effective mass then the electron in an unperturbed lattice. The electron-phonon interaction results in resistivity, results in attenuation of ultrasonic waves in metals, and results in some cases to an attractive interaction between electrons, this being one of the precursors of superconductivity. The problem of electron-phonon interaction in metals has been the subject of much study in attempts to give quantum field theory a rigorous mathematical foundation, particularly via the study of the "jellium model".

   Chapter 8 is very important, and its content reveals again the age of the book. The phenomenon of superconductivity, and its description by the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory, is known as one of the triumphs of the quantum theory of solids. Of course, when this book was published, superconducting materials at high temperature, were not known. The author though gives a detailed overview of the BCS theory, starting with the Hamiltonian for the electrons, phonons, and their first-order interactions (the strength measured by a certain real constant D). Using a canonical transformation, the author reduces the Hamiltonian to one with no off-diagonal terms of order D. This results in an expression for an electron-electron interaction which can be attractive for excitation energies in a certain range (involving the Debye energy). Keeping only this interaction in the Hamiltonian, for wave vectors that satisfy this range constraint, the author studies the properties of bound electron pairs, and shows how they bring about superconductivity. He also outlines an alternative solution to the BCS equation, using what he calls the equation-of-motion method. More modern treatments of superconductivity employ the use of Higgs fields and the renormalization group, these approaches shedding light on whether one can indeed view superconductivity as a "macroscopic manifestation of quantum physics".