Calendar

The calendar below provides information on the course's lecture (L), recitation (R), and exam (E) sessions.

SES # TOPICS KEY DATES
L1 Collective Behavior, from Particles to Fields

Introduction, Phonons and Elasticity

  
L2 Collective Behavior, from Particles to Fields (cont.)

Phase Transitions, Critical Behavior

The Landau-Ginzburg Approach

Introduction, Saddle Point Approximation, and Mean-field Theory

  
L3 The Landau-Ginzburg Approach (cont.)

Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking and Goldstone Modes

  
L4 The Landau-Ginzburg Approach (cont.)

Scattering and Fluctuations, Correlation Functions and Susceptibilities, Comparison to Experiments

  
L5 The Landau-Ginzburg Approach (cont.)

Gaussian Integrals, Fluctuation Corrections to the Saddle Point, The Ginzburg Criterion

  
R1 Recitation  
L6 The Scaling Hypothesis

The Homogeneity Assumption, Divergence of the Correlation Length, Critical Correlation Functions and Self-similarity

  
L7 The Scaling Hypothesis (cont.)

The Renormalization Group (Conceptual), The Renormalization Group (Formal)

 Problem set 1 due
L8 The Scaling Hypothesis (cont.)

The Gaussian Model (Direct Solution), The Gaussian Model (Renormalization Group)

  
L9 Perturbative Renormalization Group

Expectation Values in the Gaussian Model, Expectation Values in Perturbation Theory, Diagrammatic Representation of Perturbation Theory, Susceptibility

  
R2 Recitation  
L10 Perturbative Renormalization Group (cont.)

Perturbative RG (First Order)

  
R2 Recitation Problem set 2 due
R3 Recitation (Review for Test)  
E1 In-class Test 1  
L11 Perturbative Renormalization Group (cont.)

Perturbative RG (Second Order), The ε-expansion

  
L12 Perturbative Renormalization Group (cont.)

Irrelevance of Other Interactions, Comments on the ε-expansion

  
L13 Position Space Renormalization Group

Lattice Models, Exact Treatment in d=1

  
R4 Recitation  
L14 Position Space Renormalization Group (cont.)

The Niemeijer-van Leeuwen Cumulant Approximation, The Migdal-Kadanoff Bond Moving Approximation

  
L15 Series Expansions

Low-temperature Expansions, High-temperature Expansions, Eexact Solution of the One Dimensional Ising Model

 Problem set 3 due
L16 Series Expansions (cont.)

Self-duality in the Two Dimensional Ising Model, Dual of the Three Dimensional Ising Model

  
L17 Series Expansions (cont.)

Summing over Phantom Loops

  
L18 Series Expansions (cont.)

Exact Free Energy of the Square Lattice Ising Model

  
R5 Recitation  
L19 Series Expansions (cont.)

Critical Behavior of the Two Dimensional Ising Model

 Problem set 4 due
L20 Continuous Spins at Low Temperatures

The Non-linear σ-model

  
L21 Continuous Spins at Low Temperatures (cont.)

Topological Defects in the XY Model

  
L22 Continuous Spins at Low Temperatures (cont.)

Renormalization Group for the Coulomb Gas

  
R6 Recitation (Review for Test)  
E2 In-class Test 2  
R7 Recitation  
L23 Continuous Spins at Low Temperatures (cont.)

Two Dimensional Solids, Two Dimensional Melting

 Problem set 5 due
L24 Dissipative Dynamics

Brownian Motion of a Particle

  
R8 Recitation  
L25 Continuous Spins at Low Temperatures (cont.)

Equilibrium Dynamics of a Field, Dynamics of a Conserved Field

  
R9 Recitation Problem set 6 due
E3 In-class Test 3  
L26 Continuous Spins at Low Temperatures (cont.)

Generic Scale Invariance in Equilibrium Systems, Non-equilibrium Dynamics of Open Systems, Dynamics of a Growing Surface

 Final project due 2 days after L26