Advanced Solid State Physics

The course is organised in two parts: 1)lectures and 2)presentations.

Lectures. We start with 15 lectures (note that we can slightly change the order).

1. Introduction. Elements of band theory and thermodynamics of the Fermi gas.

2. Occupation number representation. Phonons.

3. Fermi liquids.

4. Magnetism in solids 1.

5. Magnetism in solids 2.

6. Landau theory of continuous phase transitions.

7. Scattering and transport in metals.

8. Superconductivity, phenomenology. Kondo effect.

9. Superconductivity, microscopic theory.

10. Superconductivity, Ginzburg-Landau theory.

11. Band structure theory.

12. Quantum matter 1.

13. Two-dimensional materials.

14. Topological states of matter.

Presentations. The rest of the course is occupied by student presentations on scientific literature as described below.

The total grade is calculated from the grades of a written test (T), of two presentations (P1 and P2) and of questions (Q), according to the formula (T + P1 + P2)/3 + Q, subsequently rounded to the closest integer or half-integer. 6 is the minimum passing grade, 5.5 is a failing grade.

Written test. At the end of the third quarter, a written closed book test will be scheduled. We estimate that the test preparation would require the students to spend 6 hours per lecture (including attending the lectures), reading the literature and studying the slides, making it in total (with the attendance of the test) 74 hours. The test will be given as a set of 20 multiple choice questions covering the material of all lectures. The grade for the test, T, is an integer or a half-integer (the number of correct answers divided by two). The grade of the written test must be at least 5 or higher in order to count for the final grade.

If due to any limitations a written test can not be held on campus, we will choose either an open book test, or an oral exam, depending on the number of students participating.

Presentations. The presentations are graded as follows: each student is assigned two subjects (each a title of a presentation), accompanied by two main research papers which are related to the content of the course (but do not necessarily strictly follow the materials of the lectures) and is scheduled for two presentations (15 minutes each). A presentation is followed by questions from the audience and with oral feedback from the lecturers. Each presentation is graded according to the grading scheme (rubric available on the Brightspace) and receives and integer grade (P1 and P2). Students who are present in the audience also use the same form to provide feedback. We expect that it takes 4 hours to read each paper and 6 hours to read related literature and to prepare the presentation. Including 4 hours presence in the classroom this amounts to a minimum effort of 24 hours. It is expected that the students who want to pass the course with more than the minimum grade will also attend other presentations and ideally read the presented papers in advance. Switching of presentation topics between students is not allowed.

Questions. In addition to their own presentations, every student is assigned six more papers (which are scheduled to be presented by other students, three in the first round and three in the second round). The student is supposed to read these papers and prepare one question to each of the presentations of these papers. (Study load 5 hours per paper + 2 hour attendance of the presentation session = 42 hours). The questions have to be prepared even if the presentation itself is canceled or rescheduled, and need to be send to the lecturers 24 hours before the presentation (if the presentation was rescheduled or cancelled, 24h before if was originally scheduled). They are graded as follows:

- If the student did not send the question 24h before the presentation (even if the presentation was rescheduled or cancelled), or if the question is judged by the lecturers as poor, -0.25 (subtraction of 0.25);

- If the student sent a good question on time but did not show up at the presentation to actually ask it, -0.1 (subtraction of 0.1);

- If the student sent the question on time and showed up on the presentation to ask the question; or if the student sent the question on time and the presentation was rescheduled or cancelled, + 0.1.

The sum of these grades for six questions makes the total question grade, Q (it may vary between -1.5 and 0.6).
Once the question schedule has been published, questions can not be rescheduled anymore, switching of the questions between the students is not allowed.