Quantum Theory of Matter:

Superfluids & Superconductors

The following documents are in PDF format.

Problem Sheets

1. Ideal Bose gas (with solutions)
2. Bose fluid: statics (with solutions)
3. Bose fluid: dynamics (with solutions)
4. Vortices (with solutions)
5. Superconductors (with solutions)
6. Second quantisation (with solutions)
7. Bose fluid: quantum fluctuations (with solutions)
8. Electron systems and superconductivity (with solutions)

Rapid Feedback

• Week 3: Problem Sheet 1 Q1,4.
• Week 5: Problem Sheet 2 Q4; Problem Sheet 3 Q2.
• Week 7: Problem Sheet 4 Q1; Problem Sheet 5 Q1, (Q2).
• Week 9: Problem Sheet 6 Q1 part (vi), Q2.
• Week 11: Problem Sheet 7 Q4; Problem Sheet 8 Q4.

Lecture Summaries

• Lectures 1-8: Neutral superfluids
• Lectures 9-13: Charged superfluids
• Lectures 14-19: Quantum Bose systems
• Lectures 20-25: Superconductivity

Lecture Notes

1. Bose condensation
2. Superfluidity
3. Interacting Bose liquid
4. Vortices
5. Superconductor basics
6. Type II superconductors
7. Josephson effect
8. Second quantisation (see errata)
9. Bose Fluid: quantum fluctuations
10. Electron systems
11. Superconducting ground state
12. Excitations of a superconductor
13. Appendix: Quantum basics
    • single-particle quantum mechanics
    • variational principle
    • ladder operators
14. Appendix: Fourier transforms

Errata

• Chapter 8, p86, 3rd last paragraph: sound velocity does not have factor of 2.
• Chapter 8, p88, equation (8.25): denominator should have 2π instead of π

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