Required texts

• John Cardy, Scaling and Renormalization in Statistical Physics, Cambridge University Press, 1996. I currently expect to use this text for the first half of the course.
• My text Statistical Mechanics: Entropy, Order Parameters, and Complexity, Oxford University Press, (2006), available on line. We will use Chapter 12, and as a reference for background and exercises.

Supplementary texts

• Mehran Kardar, Statistical Physics of Fields, Cambridge University Press (2007).
• Nigel D. Goldenfeld, Lectures on Phase Transitions and the Renormalization Group, Addison Wesley (1992).
• P. M. Chaikin and T. C. Lubensky, Principles of condensed matter physics, Cambridge (1995).
• Michael Plishke and Birger Bergersen, Equilibrium Statistical Physics, World Scientific (1994).
• J. J. Binney, N. J. Dowrick, A. J. Fisher, and M. E. J. Newman, The Theory of Critical Phenomena, Oxford (1993).

Reading for advanced topics

3. Nonlinear hydrodynamics
   • John Toner, Yuhai Tu and Sriram Ramaswamy, "Hydrodynamics and phases of flocks", Annals of Physics 318 170-244 (2005).
   • Mehran Kardar's book (above), chapter 8.
4. Disordered systems
   • "Theory of Random Magnets", D. S. Fisher, G. M. Grinstein, and Anil Khurana, Physics Today 41(12), 56-67 (1988).
   • "Collective transport in random media: From superconductors to earthquakes", Daniel S. Fisher, Proceedings of the 9th International Summer School on Fundamental Problems in Statistical Mechanics (1998).
   • "Low frequency relaxation in Ising spin glasses", Mohit Randeria, James P. Sethna, and Richard Palmer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 54, 1321 (1985).
   • "Scaling Theory for the Glass Transition", James P. Sethna, Joel D. Shore, and Ming Huang, Phys. Rev. B 44, 4943 (1991). (See also Phys. Rev. B 47, 14661 (1993) for proper credit to Daniel Fisher.)
   • 'Nonequilibrium "Critical" Exponents in the Random-Field Ising Model', J. Villain, Phys. Rev. Lett. 52, 1543-1546 (1984).
   • "Scaling and critical slowing down in random-field Ising systems", D. S. Fisher, Phys. Rev. Lett. 56, 416 (1986).
5. Conformal field theory
   • Cardy chapter 11
   • John Cardy, "Conformal Field Theory and Statistical Mechanics", lectures given at the Les Houches summer school 2008.
   • Paul Ginsparg, "Applied Conformal Field Theory", in Fields, Strings and Critical Phenomena, Les Houches Session XLIX 1988, ed. É. Brézin and J. Zinn-Justin Elsevier (1989).
6. Quantum phase transitions
   • Subir Sachdev, "Quantum Phase Transitions", Cambridge University Press, 1999. We may cover up through the transverse Ising chain, chapters 1-4.
   • S. L. Sondhi, S. M. Girvin, J. P. Carini, and D. Shahar, Rev. Mod. Phys. 69, 315 (1997).
7. Fermi Liquid RG
   • Joe Polchinski, "Effective Field Theory and the Fermi Surface", lectures presented at TASI 1992.
   • R. Shankar, "Renormalization Group Approach to Interacting Fermions", Rev. Mod. Phys. 66, 129-92 (1994).
   • Philippe Nozières and David Pines, Theory of Quantum Liquids, probably chapter 1.
8. SLE
   • John Cardy, "SLE for Theoretical Physicists", Annals of Physics 318 81 (2005).
9. Asymptotic analysis of partial differential equations
   • Goldenfeld's book (above), chapter 10
10. Martin-Siggia-Rose techniques
    • P. C. Martin, E. D. Siggia, and H. A. Rose, "Statistical dynamics of classical systems", Phys. Rev. A 8, 423-37 (1973).
    • Karin Dahmen and James P. Sethna, "Hysteresis, avalanches, and disorder-induced critical scaling: A renormalization-group approach", Phys. Rev. B 53, 14872-905 (1996).
11. Recent developments in the theory of glasses
    • François Sausset, Gilles Tarjus, and Pascal Viot, "Tuning the fragility of a glassforming liquid by curving space", arXiv, May 2008, Phys. Rev. Lett., 101, 155701 (2008).
    • C. Toninelli, G. Biroli, and D. S. Fisher, "Jamming percolation and glass transitions in lattice models", Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 035702 (2006).
    • C. S. O'Hern, L. E. Silbert, A. J. Liu, and S. R. Nagel, "Jamming at zero temperature and zero applied stress: The epitome of disorder", Phys. Rev. E 68, 011306 (2003).
    • G. Biroli and J. P. Bouchaud, "Diverging length scale and upper critical dimension in the Mode-Coupling Theory of the glass transition" Europhys. Lett. 67, 21-7 (2004). (maybe not the best reference)
    
    

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    Last Modified: August 29, 2008

    Statistical Mechanics: Entropy, Order Parameters, and Complexity, now available at Oxford University Press (USA, Europe).