Quantum Theory of the Electron Liquid

Modern electronic devices and novel materials often derive their extraordinary properties from the intriguing, complex behavior of large numbers of electrons forming what is known as an electron liquid. This book provides an in-depth introduction to the physics of the interacting electron liquid in a broad variety of systems, including metals, semiconductors, artificial nano-structures, atoms and molecules. One, two and three dimensional systems are treated separately and in parallel. Different phases of the electron liquid, from the Landau Fermi liquid to the Wigner crystal, from the Luttinger liquid to the quantum Hall liquid are extensively discussed. Both static and time-dependent density functional theory are presented in detail. Although the emphasis is on the development of the basic physical ideas and on a critical discussion of the most useful approximations, the formal derivation of the results is highly detailed and based on the simplest, most direct methods.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction to the electron liquid; 2. The Hartree-Fock approximation; 3. Linear response theory; 4. Linear response of independent electrons; 5. Linear response of an interacting electron liquid; 6. The perturbative calculation of linear response functions; 7. Density functional theory; 8. The normal Fermi liquid; 9. The one-dimensional electron gas and the Luttinger liquid; 10. The two-dimensional electron gas at high magnetic field.

About the Author :
Gabriele F. Giuliani is a Professor of Physics at Purdue University, Indiana, USA. Since gaining his PhD at Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy in 1983, he has held postdoctoral positions at Purdue University and Brown University. He has also conducted research at the University of Pisa, the University of Rome and the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy. He joined the faculty of Purdue University in 1984 and has been a Professor of Physics since 1995. Prof. Giuliani's main areas of research are many-body theory, transport in low dimensional electronic systems and superconductivity. He has published more than 60 papers. Giovanni Vignale is the Millsap Professor of Physics at University of Missouri-Columbia. After graduating from Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa in 1979 and gaining his PhD at Northwestern University in 1983, he has carried out research at the Max-Planck-Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart, Germany and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He was made a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1997. Prof. Vignale's main areas of research are many-body theory and density functional theory and he has over 100 papers in print.

Review :
'All in all, this is an excellent book with the bonus of a useful selection of exercises to test the reader's understanding. … for those with stamina, and a zest for getting to the bottom of how nature really operates, study of this book will certainly repay the effort.' Chemistry World 'This book contains a wealth of information that will repay diligent study, much of it not to be found together in any other graduate textbook.' The Times Higher Education Supplement 'The book, unquestionably attractive to the more experienced reader… is an invaluable source of material for many-body theory as a part of condensed matter physics graduate courses. The book contains sophisticated and important concepts, such as spin-dependant effective electronic interactions, a subject virtually impossible to find in other textbooks. Every graduate student and researcher studying condensed matter theory should obtain a copy of this exceptional text.' Physics Today