course-details-portlet

FY8302

Quantum Theory of Solids

Choose study year

Assessments and mandatory activities may be changed until September 20th.

Credits 7.5
Level Doctoral degree level
Course start Spring 2026
Duration 1 semester
Language of instruction English
Location Trondheim
Examination arrangement School exam

About

About the course

Course content

Field quantization. Occupation number representation for nonrelativistic fermionic and bosonic many-particle systems. Interacting electron gas. Green's functions. Many-particle perturbation theory and Feynman diagrams. Lattice models for fermions and spins. The Hubbard model and the Heisenberg model. Spin-wave theory of ferro- and antiferromagnets. Electron-phonon coupling. The Cooper problem and the BCS theory of superconductivity.

Learning outcome

The students will obtain knowledge of key examples of field theories and lattice models for systems of interacting fermions, bosons, and spins, and learn to use relevant theoretical concepts and methods to analyze various aspects of these models. More specifically, the students will:

  • master the use of creation and annihilation operators for fermion and boson systems
  • master Fourier and Bogoliubov transformations for diagonalization of quadratic Hamiltonians
  • be introduced to many-particle Green functions and how these are related to various quantities of interest
  • get an introduction to many-particle perturbation theory, including Feynman diagrams
  • acquire knowledge about various other methods, e.g. spin wave theory
  • learn about key concepts, including quasiparticles, order parameters, and (broken) symmetries.

Learning methods and activities

Lectures and voluntary homework problems. The course will be given in English if students in the international master program in physics are attending the course. Expected workload in the course is 225 hours.

The course has joint lectures with TFY4210.

Further on evaluation

The re-sit examination (in August) may be changed from written to oral. When lectures and lecture material are in English, the exam may be given in English only.

Specific conditions

Admission to a programme of study is required:
Biophysics (PHBIFY)
Physics (PHFY)

Course materials

Information about relevant literature will be given at the start of the course.

Credit reductions

Course code Reduction From
DIF4923 7.5 sp
TFY4210 7.5 sp Autumn 2021
This course has academic overlap with the courses in the table above. If you take overlapping courses, you will receive a credit reduction in the course where you have the lowest grade. If the grades are the same, the reduction will be applied to the course completed most recently.

Subject areas

  • Solid State Theory
  • Solid State Physics
  • Physics

Contact information

Course coordinator

Department with academic responsibility

Department of Physics

Examination

Examination

Examination arrangement: School exam
Grade: Passed / Not Passed

Ordinary examination - Spring 2026

School exam
Weighting 100/100 Examination aids Code C Duration 4 hours Exam system Inspera Assessment Place and room Not specified yet.

Re-sit examination - Summer 2026

School exam
Weighting 100/100 Examination aids Code C Duration 4 hours Exam system Inspera Assessment Place and room Not specified yet.