Quantum Liquids: Bose Condensation and Cooper Pairing in Condensed-Matter Systems

by Anthony J. Leggett

Starting from first principles, this book introduces the closely related phenomena of Bose condensation and Cooper pairing, in which a very large number of single particles or pairs of particles are forced to behave in exactly the same way, and explores their consequences in condensed matter systems. Eschewing advanced formal methods, the author uses simple concepts and arguments to account for the various qualitatively new phenomena which occur in Bose-condensed and Cooper-paired systems, including but not limited to the spectacular macroscopic phenomena of superconductivity and superfluidity; the physical systems discussed include liquid 4-He, the BEC alkali gases, "classical" superconductors, superfluid 3-He, "exotic" superconductors and the recently stabilized Fermi alkali gases.The book should be accessible to beginning graduate students in physics or advanced undergraduates.

408 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Sir Anthony J. Leggett, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor and Center for Advanced Study Professor of Physics, has been a faculty member at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since 1983. He is widely recognized as a world leader in the theory of low-temperature physics, and his pioneering work on superfluidity was recognized by the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Russian Academy of Sciences (foreign member), and is a Fellow of the Royal Society (U.K.), the American Physical Society, and the American Institute of Physics. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Physics (U.K.). He was knighted (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004 "for services to physics."

Reviews

[Michael Weaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leggett does a good job explaining superfluid and superconductors within the contect of condensed matter theories. Definitely not too out-of-date on BEC-BCS crossover unlike a lot of books on the subject.