After successful completion of the course, students are able to comprehend the materials presented in the lecture and to draw conclusions from them, as well as to actively communicate the contents presented during the lecture.

Brief review of the main phenomenology of conventional and unconventional superconductivity. Empirical Matthias' rules for superconductivity. Review of BCS theory and critical analysis of its applicability to the different class of superconductors. Extension of the Landau-Ginzburg phenomenological theory to a QFT description in terms of Feynman diagrammatics and functional intergrals. Ward identities and response functions. Goldstone modes, phase-fluctuations, coupling to the electromagnetic field. Interpretation of the Meissner effect in terms of the Higgs mechanism. Interplay between magnetism and conventional/unconventional superconductivity. Discussion of the forefront problems and perspectives in the quest towards room temperature superconductivity.

Frontal lecture

First lecture am Tue. 03.10.2023, 14:15-16:00 Uhr, FH HS 4

Important: The final time-schedule of the lecture is on Mo. from 10:15 to 12:00 in in Sem.R. DB gelb 09.

First exam date in February (date still to be defined; please register by sending an email to A. Toschi, at latest a week before the exam).

Further exam dates (2024): (i) end  of July [exact time/date still to be defined]  (ii) mid/end  of September [exact time/date still to be defined]. As usual: please register by sending an email to A. Toschi, at latest a week before the exam.

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Vorbesprechung aller Wahlvorlesungen des IFP:

Montag, 02.10.2023, 15.00 - 16.00 Uhr, FH HS 6

Oral Examination

• N. W. Ashcroft & N. D. Mermin, Solid State Physics, Saunders College Publishing, (1976); Chp. 33-34 [for Chp. 1 of the VO]

• P.G. de Gennes, Superconductivity of Metals and Alloys, Advanced Book Classics, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company (1989) [for Chp. 1-2.1-2.2-2.4-3.1-4.1 of the VO]

• L.E. Reichl, A Modern Course in Statistical Physics, Wiley-Wch, (2009) [for Chp. 2.3 of the VO]

• G. Rickayzen, Green's functions and Condensed Matter, Dover Publ. (1980); Chp. 7-8-9-10  [for Chp. 2.2-2.3-2.4-2.5-2.6-4.1 of the VO]

• J. Solyom, Fundamentals  of the Physics of Solids, Volume 3 - Normal, Broken Symmetry, and Correlated Systems, Chp. 34 [for Chp. 2.4-2.5-2.6-4.1-4.2 of the VO]

• M. Tinkham, Introduction to Superconductivity (second edition), Dover Publ. New York, (2004), Chp. 4 [for Chp. 3.1 of the VO].

• A. Abrikosov, L.P. Gorkov, I.E. Dzyaloshinski, Methods of Quantum Field Theory in Statistical Physics, Dover Publ., (1975) [for Chp. 2.6 of the VO].

• A. Altland and B. Simons, Condensed Matter Field Theory, Cambridge Univ. Press, (2006); Chp. 6.4 [for Chp. 3.2-4.2 of the VO].

• A. Chubukov and P.J. Hirschfeld, Iron-based superconductors, seven years later, Physics Today, 68, 46 (2015) [for Chp. 4.3 of the VO].

• Q. Si and N. Hussay,  Iron-based superconductors: Teenage, complex, challenging, Physics Today 76 34 (2023) [for Chp. 4.3 of the VO]

Introductory article on "Failed theories of superconductivity" by J. Schmalian: https://arxiv.org/abs/1008.0447

Quantum Theory II and second quantization