• Lecture notes from Spring, 2004
• Office Hours: Fri 3pm-6pm, F617 (Gamow Tower)
• Syllabus

Lectures

• Week 1, Aug 22-26: Noninteracting vs interacting systems; 1D Ising model
• Week 2, Aug 29-Sep 2: 1D Ising model, transfer matrix formalism, relationship between statistical mechanics and quantum mechanics
• Week 3, Sep 5-9: 2D Ising model, Peierls criterion, transfer matrix formalism
• Week 4, Sep 12-16: Jordan-Wigner fermions
• Week 5, Sep 19-23: Exact solution to the 2D Ising model
• Week 6, Sep 26-30: Path integrals in quantum mechanics, equivalence between quantum mechanics and statistical physics
• Week 7, Oct 3-7: Green's functions and correlation functions
• Week 8, Oct 10-14: Renormalization group and the 1D Ising model
• Week 9, Oct 17-21: General properties of the renormalization group
• Week 10, Oct 24-28: Phase diagrams and crossover behavior
• Week 11, Oct 31-Nov 4: Upper critical dimension, gaussian fixed point
• Week 12, Nov 7-11: Perturbative renormalization group and epsilon expansion
• Week 13, Nov 14-18: XY model in two dimensions, vortices
• Week 14, Nov 21-25: Berezinsky-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition
• Week 15, Nov 28-Dec 2: Sine-Gordon model. Monopoles in compact electrodynamics
• Week 16, Dec 5: Introduction to disorder

Problem Sets

• Problem Set 1: Due Sep 12
• Problem Set 2: Due Sep 26
• Problem Set 3: Due Oct 10
• Problem Set 4: Due Oct 31
• Problem Set 5: Due Nov 21
• Problem Set 6: Due Dec 5

Solution to the test, Dec 7

Additional Reading

• Solution of the 2D Ising Model by Schultz, Mattis, and Lieb. They were the first to use Jordan-Winger fermions in this context. In that paper they solved it exactly for arbitrary vertical/horizontal bond strengths.