Ultracold Quantum Fields – Henk Stoof, Dennis Dickerscheid & Koos Gubbels
Ultracold Quantum Fields provides a self-contained introduction to quantum field theory for many-particle systems, using functional methods throughout. The emphasis is on the behaviour of so-called quantum fluids, namely quantum gases and liquids, where trapped
atomic gases are always used as an example to compare the outcome of theory with experiments. After a detailed derivation of the quantum-field-theoretical description of many-body physics, the appropriate Hartree-Fock theory for the properties of a quantum fluid in the normal phase is formulated. The focus then turns to the properties in the superfluid phase, and the authors present a microscopic derivation of the Bogoliubov theory of Bose-Einstein condensation and the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory of superconductivity. The former is applicable to trapped bosonic gases such as rubidium, lithium, sodium and hydrogen, and the latter in particular to the fermionic isotope of atomic lithium. Finally, a few topical subjects in the field of ultracold atoms are discussed for which a field-theoretical approach is especially suited. Examples are the BEC-BCS crossover in a balanced Fermi mixture, strongly-interacting imbalanced Fermi gases, low-dimensional Bose gases, the superfluid to Mott-insulator transition in an optical lattice, and Feshbach resonances.
The book is a greatly extended version of the lecture notes for a required course in the masters programme in Theoretical Physics at Utrecht.
Series: Theoretical and Mathematical Physics
2009, IV, 458 p. 100 illus., Hardcover £63.95
ISBN: 978-1-4020-8762-2