Theoretical
Theoretical condensed matter physics involves the use of theoretical models to understand properties of states of matter. These include models to study the electronic properties of solids, such as the Drude model, the Band structure and the density functional theory. Theoretical models have also been developed to study the physics of phase transitions, such as the Landau-Ginzburg theory, Critical exponents and the use of mathematical techniques of quantum field theory and the renormalization group. Modern theoretical studies involve the use of numerical computation of electronic structure and mathematical tools to understand phenomena such as high-temperature superconductivity, topological phases and gauge symmetries.
Read more about this topic: Condensed Matter Physics
Famous quotes containing the word theoretical:
“Post-structuralism is among other things a kind of theoretical hangover from the failed uprising of ‘68Ma way of keeping the revolution warm at the level of language, blending the euphoric libertarianism of that moment with the stoical melancholia of its aftermath.”
—Terry Eagleton (b. 1943)
“There are theoretical reformers at all times, and all the world over, living on anticipation.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The hypothesis I wish to advance is that ... the language of morality is in ... grave disorder.... What we possess, if this is true, are the fragments of a conceptual scheme, parts of which now lack those contexts from which their significance derived. We possess indeed simulacra of morality, we continue to use many of the key expressions. But we have—very largely if not entirely—lost our comprehension, both theoretical and practical, of morality.”
—Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre (b. 1929)