This work presents a modern vision of magnetism and superconduc tivity which covers both microscopic and phenomenological aspects. The basic information is illustrated with the help of current research topics such as the quantum Hall effect or mesoscopic aspects of superconductivity. The author systematically uses very intuitive examples and arguments in order to familia rize the reader with the underlying formalism. The present text book addresses primarily graduate students but is also of inte rest to scientists working in this field.

This book was written from lectures given to MSc students following the 'Matter and Radiation' course at the University of Grenoble I. Although magnetism and superconductivity cover a wide area of physics, the course was motivated by a common factor: these phenomena are realisa tions of thermodynamic states which break certain continuous symmetries. In the case of magnetism, they break rotational invariance. In the case of superconductivity, they break gauge invariance. The aim of the course was to bring out the importance of broken symmetries in condensed matter physics. The book can be understood with minimal prerequisites and the math ematical techniques used are fairly elementary. However, a basic knowledge of spin and angular momentum is essential, since quantum mechanics lies at the heart of both magnetism and superconductivity. Chapter 2 reviews the main points. The first chapter explains how thermodynamic functions are constructed in the presence of a magnetic field. As the book has two parts, Magnetism (I) and Superconductivity (II), these will be specified between brackets in cross-references to sections and chapters. I have made a particular effort to present phenomena in magnetism and superconductivity by starting with concrete examples. Some technological applications of superconductivity have also been described.

An excellent textbook, modern and up-to-date

Inhalt
I. Magnetism.- 1. Magnetic Field and Induction. Thermodynamics.- 2. Orbital and Spin Magnetism Without Interactions.- 3. Exchange Interactions.- 4. Phase Transitions.- 5. Mean Field.- 6. The Ising Model.- 7. The XY Model.- 8. Linear Response.- 9. Spin Waves.- 10. Quantum Spin Chains.- 11. Itinerant Magnetism.- II. Superconductivity.- 12. Macroscopic Aspects of Superconductivity.- 13. Ginzburg-Landau Theory.- 14. The BCS Theory of Superconductivity.- 15. Vortices in Type II Superconductors.- 16. The Josephson Effect and Quantum Interferometers.- 17. Inhomogeneous Superconductivity.- A. Representations of Continuous and Point Groups.- B. Second Quantisation.- C. Exercises.