This textbook covers the main topics in contemporary condensed matter physics in a modern and unified way, using quantum field therory in the functional intergral approach. The book highlights symmetry aspects in acknowledging that much of the collective behaviors of condensed matter at low tempertatures emerge above a nontirvial ground state, which spontaneously breaks the symmetry. The emphasis is on effective field theories which provide an efficent and powerful description that is valid at long wavelengths and low frequencies. In conjunction with this, the modern approach towards renormalizaton is taken, whereby a wave number cutoff is introduced to set a scale beyond which the microscopic model under consideration ceases to be valid. This unique and innovative character of this presentation free of historical constraints, allows for a compact and self-contained treatment of the main topics in contemporary condensed matter physics. | Boulevard of Broken Symmetries by Adriaan M J SCHAKEL, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters