Based on lectures given at the University of Illinois in 1961, Elementary Excitations in Solids provides a pedagogical introduction to our present view of solids as a system of interacting electrons and ions, with excited states that are best described as a set of coupled elementary excitations, electrons, plasmons, excitons, and phonons. In addition to introducing basic concepts, the author frequently refers to experimental data. For the most part, both the basic theory and the applications discussed deal with the behavior of "simple" metals, such as the alkali metals, rather than the "complicated" metals, such as the transition metals and the rare earths. Problems have been included for most of the chapters.
This book has grown from lectures given in an advanced course in the theory of solids at the University of Illinois during the fall semester 1961-62. It was assumed that the student possessed a knowle
This book has grown from lectures given in an advanced course in the theory of solids at the University of Illinois during the fall semester 1961-62. It was assumed that the student possessed a knowledge of quantum mechanics equivalent to a years course in that topic; no prior knowledge of field theory was assumed. The course was designed to follow one in the one-electron or band theory of solids. However, in the view of the wide applicability (to plasma physics, nuclear physics, low-temperature physics) of many of the physical ideas and techniques developed in the course, a prior knowledge of solid-state physics was not regarded as a sine qua non. For this reason, both Chapter 2 on phonons and Chapter 3 on electrons contain a certain amount of material which is usually included in an introductory solid-state physics course.
