This book explains the fundamental concepts and theoretical techniques used to understand the properties of quantum systems having large numbers of degrees of freedom. A number of complimentary approaches are developed, including perturbation theory; nonperturbative approximations based on functional integrals; general arguments based on order parameters, symmetry, and Fermi liquid theory; and stochastic methods.
John Negele is Professor of Physics at M.I.T., where he has been a faculty member since 1970. He has been a recipient of numerous fellowships, including Guggenheim, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Alfred P. Sloan, NATO, National Science Foundation, Danforth, and Woodrow Wilson. His research interests range from the structure and dynamics of nuclei and the properties of dense matter to spin systems and quantum chromodynamics.Henri Orland, a Physicist at the Service de Physique Théoretique, CEA Saclay, has worked extensively in nuclear physics and statistical physics and is currently focusing his research in statistical physics on disordered media: spinglasses, optimization problems, neural networks, wetting phenomena, two-dimensional systems, interfaces in random systems, quasi-periodic systems, and related topics.