Symmetry, Broken Symmetry, and Topology in Modern Physics

Mike Guidry is Professor in Physics and Astronomy at the University of Tennessee. He is the author of more than 125 journal articles and six published textbooks. He has been the Lead Educational Technology Developer for several major college textbooks in introductory physics, astronomy, biology, genetics, and microbiology. During his career, he has won multiple teaching awards and has taken the lead in a variety of science outreach initiatives. Yang Sun gained his Ph.D. at the Technical University of Munich and has many years of experience teaching undergraduate courses, ranging from introductory physics to quantum mechanics. He is the author of more than 250 journal articles, mainly in the field of nuclear many-body theory, but also in other correlated fermionic systems. He was awarded the Wu Youxun Prize by the Chinese Physical Society for his research achievements.

Preface; Part I. Symmetry Groups and Algebras: 1. Introduction; 2. Some properties of groups; 3. Introduction to lie groups; 4. Permutation groups; 5. Electrons on periodic lattices; 6. The rotation group; 7. Classification of lie algebras; 8. Unitary and special unitary groups; 9. SU(3) flavor symmetry; 10. Harmonic oscillators and SU(3); 11. SU(3) matrix elements; 12. Introduction to non-compact groups; 13. The Lorentz group; 14. Lorentz covariant fields; 15. Poincaré invariance; 16. Gauge invariance; Part II. Broken Symmetry: 17. Spontaneous symmetry breaking; 18. The Higgs mechanism; 19. The standard model; 20. Dynamical symmetry; 21. Generalized coherent states; 22. Restoring symmetry by projection; 23. Quantum phase transitions; Part III. Topology and Geometry: 24. Topology, manifolds, and metrics; 25. Topological solitons; 26. Geometry and gauge theories; 27. Geometrical phases; 28. Topology of the quantum Hall effect; 29. Topological matter; Part IV. A Variety of Physical Applications: 30. Angular momentum recoupling; 31. Nuclear fermion dynamical symmetry; 32. Superconductivity and superfluidity; 33. Current algebra; 34. Grand unified theories; Appendix A. Second quantization; Appendix B. Natural units; Appendix C. Angular momentum tables; Appendix D. Lie algebras; References; Index.