Many-body Theory Exposed! Propagator Description Of Quantum Mechanics In Many-body Systems (2nd Edition)

Standard textbooks on the subject of the many-body problem have become outdated. A wealth of experimental data has accumulated that has never been integrated in a textbook before; these data make the abstract concept of propagators extremely vivid and understandable. The present text incorporates the comparison with experimental data from the outset. Also missing from all textbooks is the coverage of calculations, which have benefited from the exponential increase in computing power. The results of such calculations, using propagators or Green's functions, are reviewed in the present text. While the majority of books on many-body theory deal with the subject from the viewpoint of condensed matter physics, the present book also emphasizes finite systems and should be of considerable interest to researchers in nuclear, atomic, and molecular physics.A unified treatment of many different many-body systems is presented using the approach of self-consistent Green's functions. The important role of self-consistency is treated in an original and systematic manner. Several topics not available in older books, in particular the description of atomic Bose-Einstein condensates, are included. The coverage proceeds in a systematic way, from elementary concepts like second quantization and mean-field properties to a more advanced but self-contained presentation of the physics relevant for atoms, molecules, nuclei, nuclear and neutron matter, electron gas, quantum liquids, atomic Bose-Einstein and fermion condensates, and pairing correlations in finite and infinite systems.