Mesoscopic Physics

Purpose of this study guide

This project will comprise hints for mathematicians who want to become knowledgeable in the field of mesoscopic physics, including a list of prerequisites, pointers to useful textbooks and lecture notes, as well as some brief explanations of basic physical concepts. Conversely, physicists will we able to find out which topics in mesoscopic physics are connected to mathematical concepts, and find some explanations of these concepts (or pointers to those). The level we assume is that of a beginning graduate student in either mathematics or physics.

This resource has been set up by people working in the German 'collaborative research center' SFB TR/12 (funded by the German science foundation). That research network comprises physicists and mathematicians working on "Symmetries and Universality in Mesoscopic Physics". This involves, for example, applying modern mathematical methods to analyze the transport of electrons through micrometer-scale semiconductor structures, and related topics.

If you want to see an example of the kind of research originating there, try the article by Heinzner, Huckleberry, and Zirnbauer on "Symmetry Classes of Disordered Fermions" (arxiv:math-ph/0411040).

This study guide was started on August 31, 2008. Please bear with us as we construct these pages... If you have any suggestions for how to organize the material, or which features to introduce, visit our "Discussion" page and join the brainstorming session!

--FlorianMarquardt 11:41, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Your help is needed!

This is supposed to be a community project! The first place where you can contribute with a minimum of effort is in the "Mesoscopic Physics Glossary", where you could help with a very brief definition of a term or two. This will take no more than 5 or 10 minutes, even if you have never worked on any "wiki" before !

The study guide

First, read our general brief "What is Mesoscopic Physics". Then, get to know which basic physical concepts you should master before learning about mesoscopic physics: "Physics Prerequisites". Next, find a list of useful learning material (textbooks, lecture notes etc.) on the topic itself: "Learning Mesoscopic Physics". Finally, browse our "Mesoscopic Physics Glossary" for getting to know the jargon of physicists and mathematicians. Note that mathematical mesoscopic physics involves quite a lot of different subdisciplines of mathematics. For an overview, have a look at our " Mathematics for Mesoscopic Physics". There you will find brief outlines of relevant math topics, suggestions on how to study them, and pointers to their use in mesoscopics. This should complement the short nontechnical definitions in the Glossary.

Have fun!