Symmetry, Broken Symmetry, and Topology in Modern Physics: A First Course

Description

Written for use in teaching and for self-study, this book provides a comprehensive and pedagogical introduction to groups, algebras, geometry, and topology. It assimilates modern applications of these concepts, assuming only an advanced undergraduate preparation in physics. It provides a balanced view of group theory, Lie algebras, and topological concepts, while emphasizing a broad range of modern applications such as Lorentz and Poincare invariance, coherent states, quantum phase transitions, the quantum Hall effect, topological matter, and Chern numbers, among many others. An example based approach is adopted from the outset, and the book includes worked examples and informational boxes to illustrate and expand on key concepts. 344 homework problems are included, with full solutions available to instructors, and a subset of 172 of these problems have full solutions available to students.

Mike Guidry is Professor in Physics and Astronomy at the University of Tennessee. He is the author of more than 125 journal articles and six published textbooks. He has been the Lead Educational Technology Developer for several major college textbooks in introductory physics, astronomy, biology, genetics, and microbiology. During his career, he has won multiple teaching awards and has taken the lead in a variety of science outreach initiatives. Yang Sun gained his Ph.D. at the Technical University of Munich and has many years of experience teaching undergraduate courses, ranging from introductory physics to quantum mechanics. He is the author of more than 250 journal articles, mainly in the field of nuclear many-body theory, but also in other correlated fermionic systems. He was awarded the Wu Youxun Prize by the Chinese Physical Society for his research achievements.

'The whole of theoretical physics, and our general picture of the world, are based on symmetries. This book is devoted to symmetries and their manifestations in nature, and it allows students to develop a theoretical and experimental understanding of the fundamental properties of the Universe. This path is carefully paved by the authors.' Professor Vladimir Zelevinsky, Michigan State University