| This book is based on my lecture notes developed for the undergraduate physics students. The lecture notes have two distinct parts. The first part goes into this book that focuses on achieving the basic understanding of phonons and electrons in crystalline solids. The second part is a selected set of classical and contemporary topics. It introduces to the students the diverse beauty of condensed matter physics. Since the selection is highly dependent on the personal interests of individual instructors, and some of the topics are still evolving, it is my judgment not to include the second part of my lecture notes here in this book for the time being. The title "Introduction to Phonons and Electrons" of the present book reflects this decision.
Both the phonons and electrons in crystalline solids form the two corner stones of the vast field of condensed matter physics. In order to embark on the study of these two topics, the students need to have a proper background in the quantum and statistical mechanics. However, many students who take the introductory solid state course are not yet comfortable with these tools. For this reason, students are frequently asked to accept the quantum and statistical results as axioms and just to learn how to apply them to solid state phenomena. The obvious drawback of this approach is from the shaky roots. The students can inadvertently end up with the misconceptions that would be difficult to rectify. In an attempt to minimize this undesirable outcome, this book makes an extra effort to bring together the fundamental building blocks. When required, the quantum theory and statistical physics are derived from scratch. The treatment is systematic in structure and tutorial in style. It contains the normally skipped details for the beginning students. This approach ensures a self-sufficient content for easier teaching and learning. |
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