Preface

Summary

In writing the second edition of this text, I have tried to accomplish three things. First, correct all the typos in the first edition. This has turned out to be somewhat harder than I had anticipated. While I am certain my proofreaders and I corrected all mistakes we could find, that might not have been sufficient. As there will undoubtedly be a second printing, simply email me any errors you might find at [email protected]. Second, include all the material that should have been in the first edition but that I had given up on writing. This includes Green functions, Luttinger's theorem, renormalization of short-range interactions for Fermi liquids, and symmetry. In keeping with this being a physics rather than a technique or mathematics tract, these subjects are interwoven wherever they are first needed. For example, the section on Green functions is in Chapter 7 where the Anderson impurity problem is treated. For completeness, Luttinger's theorem is also presented in the same chapter but in an appendix. Third, include new material that reflects the fast-moving pace of ħ = 1 research in condensed matter physics. Here I made a judgement based on what I anticipate students would find most useful. Since there are no texts that present the pedagogy of topological insulators (though some excellent review articles exist) and Mott insulators, I chose to focus on those topics. In writing the topological insulator section, I have tried to stick to the formulations that require the fewest definitions and new concepts since the physics of these systems is inherently simple.